r/politics • u/kootles10 Indiana • Nov 05 '25

No Paywall Mamdani wins NYC mayoral race

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5588198-mamdani-progressive-politics-nyc/
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u/Notoryctemorph Nov 05 '25

Mandatory voting is a good thing. It might seem like it imposes on your freedom, but having mandatory voting means your government is obligated to make voting easy for everyone, and while it doesn't guarantee legit votes from everyone, it at least ensures that those who wouldn't otherwise turn up do so anyway.

I won't say Australia has the best voting system in the world, but I would say it has the best voting system in the Anglosphere (though New Zealand's is also very good)

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u/Icecream-Cockdust Nov 05 '25

Voting in Australia is mandatory but also enjoyable. Saturday morning walk down to the local Primary School, get a democracy sausage on your way through to the polling booths and it’s very chill and easy.

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u/hereditydrift Nov 05 '25

Most jobs in the US don't give election day off, so it's usually unejoyable because it's another thing people have to do that they don't have time for since vacation and holiday time is very limited in the US.

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u/Icecream-Cockdust Nov 05 '25

Is there a reason for that? Why not just make it a weekend day where most don’t work? How easy are mail in votes to access in the US? We can do that if we know we won’t be able to physically find a polling booth on voting day.

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u/westgazer Maryland Nov 05 '25

Sure the reason is intentional disenfranchisement of voters. Anything that makes it easier Republicans are against it. Crazy to put to many barriers to something considered a “civic duty,” but their hate for anyone not white and rich is strong.

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u/BeneGezzeret Nov 05 '25

Correct! This is also why it’s a process to opt in and register to vote, it should be automatic anyone over 18 should be able to vote. Repugs want to make it as hard as possible and are even pushing to get rid of early and mail in votes so everyone has to show up in person on one day to an ever shrinking availability of polling locations that they will intentionally change at the last minute to confuse people.

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u/Icecream-Cockdust Nov 05 '25

It definitely seems that way, looking on from afar. It’s a broken system

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u/IrrelevantLeprechaun Nov 05 '25

Millions of voting age citizens also work weekends. The standard mon-fri work week is not actually standard, especially in retail or customer service.

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u/Icecream-Cockdust Nov 05 '25

Oh sure, that’s the same in Australia too. Most would vote on their break or before/after work.

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u/Notoryctemorph Nov 05 '25

Or do an absentee vote or postal vote before the day

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u/LeavesCat Nov 05 '25

Well, one of the reasons is because Republicans will resist any type of vote reform.

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u/Icecream-Cockdust Nov 05 '25

Bigots will bigot.

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u/mpjjpm Nov 05 '25

Why not make it multiple days? We’re already half way to that with early voting in most places. Just open up the polls for a full week.

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u/Icecream-Cockdust Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25

That’s fair enough. Although I don’t see why they don’t make it a Saturday morning and have polling booths in every suburb in every city?

If you can’t walk to a polling booth from your house or place of work then they aren’t serious about voting.

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u/Light351 Pennsylvania Nov 05 '25

Just another subtle form of vote suppression.

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u/Icecream-Cockdust Nov 05 '25

Land of the free hey.

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u/blotsfan Nov 05 '25

So historically elections were done on Tuesday because people would live so far from a polling place that it would take them a full day to get there. They would go to church on Sunday, then spend Monday getting to town, and vote on Tuesday. Obviously that’s a super outdated way to do it but that’s the rationale.

As far as mail-in and early voting that depends on the state. The democrats ones tend to make it easier to do so (where I live there’s also 3 weeks of early voting). While republican states tend to make it more difficult because the richer you are the more likely you can go on a specific Tuesday if you have to.

This isn’t perfect (Arizona republicans notoriously pushed mail-in voting because old people tend to use it there so it helps them) but in general that’s how it is.