...instead of going out to vote the only answer seems to be mandatory voting. Given all of the rights a U.S. citizen is given the least they could do is vote in government official elections and on significant laws and bills, and by making voting mandatory the United States can become a true democracy. In addition, if voting became mandatory then the poor and uneducated would get a voice in our government. However, many would argue, that with the right to vote comes the right not vote. In contrast, by no voting the people of the United States cannot choose what and who can uphold their rights and other personal liberties. Mandatory...
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...Mandatory Voting as a Response to Declining Voter Turnout In many parts of the world, the act of voting is seen as an act that empowers citizens and an act that gives them a voice. However, with the decline of voter turnout, this voice seems to be coming from a select few, leaving political scientists wondering about the remaining of the population. In response to this situation, many have suggested making the act of voting, a mandatory one. Making voting a compulsory act for all citizens does provide both the citizens and the political system with many benefits. However, there are those that oppose this idea, stating possible disadvantages and contradiction in ideologies. The matter in hand is tough for any nation to deal with but making voting a mandatory act proves to have more advantages than disadvantages. With the issue on hand, each side of the debate has to be given an equal opportunity to present their ideas in hopes of coming up with a viable way to deal with the situation. The hopeful outcome of making voting mandatory in countries has shown is to have an increase in voter turnout. This can be approached in different ways. For example, countries such as Switzerland, Peru, Argentina and Australia impose fines on people who do not vote. (Henry Milner 11). Other countries use other methods to single out non-voters. In Peru, voters carry around stamped cards that confirm they have voted in the election and these cards are presented at public offices for services to...
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...American people opposing one another. This entire issue could have been avoided by one key factor, mandatory voting. If mandatory voting was instated the entire country would come together to make decisions instead of just one small percentage. The main argument of every angry voter out, there is that not everyone voted so the actual candidate that should have been elected. FairVote.org states that with mandatory voting, compulsory voting won't be able to politically polarization the United States. Lower turnout, it is argued, enables more hard-core partisans and ideologues to dominate elections....
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...Compulsory voting refers to law which require eligible citizens to register and vote in nation elections. Some people believe mandatory voting is the heart of a democracy. Others claim that compulsory voting is unconstitutional. American citizens should not be required to vote in national elections as it goes against many things and is totally wrong. Mandatory voting goes against American traditions of freedom and choice. Compulsory voting in addition, is a violation of one’s democratic rights. In a democracy, every citizen has certain rights that the government and/or state cannot take away from them. A democracy is a government in which the supreme power is held by the people and used by them through representation. When you force citizens...
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...The Case for Mandatory Voting in Canada by Senator Mac Harb The decline in voter turnout over the last several elections is of great concern to everyone interested in politics and parliamentary government. Many ideas have been put forth about how to address this problem including a recent Bill that would provide for a system of compulsory voting similar to that used in several other countries. The following article is based on the speech at second reading by the sponsor of Bill S-22. O ur democracy depends upon the active participation of its citizens, and, while voting is o n l y o n e e l e me n t o f p o l i ti c a l engagement, it remains the very foundation of our democracy. Reinforcing this foundation is the goal of Bill S-22, which will establish mandatory voting in Canada. This legislation is a direct response to a rising electoral crisis. Voter turnout has been on the decline in Canada since the 1960s, reaching a record low of just 60.9 per cent in the 2004 election. Other Western democracies are also experiencing the same dramatic drop. Only 55.3 per cent of Americans voted in the 2004 presidential election, and the 2001 British general election recorded a turnout of just 57.6 per cent. Only one in four Canadians under the age of 25 bothered to vote in the last election. Research shows that these young people, as they age, may not re-engage in the system as their parents and grandparents did. Canadian researchers tell us that this generational...
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...of over 8 million citizens in the eligible population, turnout declined from 131 million voters in 2008 to an estimated 126 million voters in 2012 when all ballots are tallied. Some 93 million eligible citizens did not vote.” Many Americans feel like their vote doesn’t count anyway, mainly citizens who are already disadvantaged. Australian professor of Politics Lisa Hill states in her article What We’ve Seen in Australia With Mandatory Voting that, “Places with mandatory voting also have less wealth inequality, lower levels of political corruption and higher levels of satisfaction with the way democracy is working than voluntary systems.” Critics say that implementing mandatory voting is against the constitution, and what we value the most, freedom. Furthermore, Hill states “ Is being required to vote a violation of autonomy? Sure, but so is mandatory taxation, jury duty and the requirement to educate our children. Yet these are all good ideas. Voting should be mandatory because as American citizens we live in a democratic society where everyone should have an opinion. Although, Americans value independence and the free-will to do whatever they choose if this was a communist country, we wouldn’t have a say on who ran the country and the policies that follow. Less than sixty years ago, many American citizens didn’t have the right to vote. In 1965, civil rights activist came together in Alabama to march for the right to vote. Louis Menand, writes in his article The Color Of Law...
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...Compulsory Voting? Not so Fast A critical review of political scholarship regarding compulsory voting Word Count: 1644 Compulsory voting has been a hotly debated topic in the political realm over the past few decades, with supporters on both sides bringing up a wide variety of arguments and beliefs for support. The proposed idea of compulsory voting is the idea that would make voting in a democratic parliamentary election mandatory for all citizens who meet the age requirement; failure to do so will result in a form of minor punishment such as a small fine. The theory behind compulsory voting is that it will increase participation in parliamentary election, thus creating a more legitimate representative democratic system. Current major democratic countries that currently employ an enforced compulsory voting system include Australia, Argentina, and Brazil. This paper will argue that voting should not be made compulsory in Canada, on the principles that there is no proof that increasing voter turnout will legitimize our representational democracy, and that we have the right to abstention. I will prove this argument by examining the political scholarship produced by Sara Birch, Justine Lacroix, and Annabelle Lever. The first academic journal I will be examining will be that of Sara Birch in her 2009 paper The Case for Compulsory Voting. In this paper, Birch is advocating that all democratic countries should implement a compulsory voting system. Birch’s primary point...
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...aspects of America, including the voting system; American citizens have always had the option of voting since its creation. But given that American citizens have the choice to vote, many opt not to, which results in low voter turn outs. In contrast, some countries have compulsory voting, a forced system of voting to improve low voter turn outs. While a good idea in theory, there is many flaws in the idea of compulsory voting. In order to enforce compulsory voting, national governments must have punishments for those who neglect voting, and this intrudes onto...
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...MUMBAI S I L IC O N VA L L E Y B A N G A LO R E S IN G A PO R E M U M B A I- B KC NEW DELHI M U N IC H Public M&As in India: Takeover Code Dissected A detailed analysis of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011 August 2013 © Copyright 2013 Nishith Desai Associates www.nishithdesai.com M&A Lab Takeover Code Dissected About NDA Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) is a research based international law firm with offices in Mumbai, Silicon Valley, Bangalore, Singapore, New Delhi and Munich. We specialize in strategic legal, regulatory and tax advice coupled with industry expertise in an integrated manner. We focus on niche areas in which we provide significant value and are invariably involved in select highly complex, innovative transactions. Our key clients include marquee repeat Fortune 500 clientele. Our experience with legal, regulatory and tax advice coupled with industry expertise in an integrated manner allows us to provide the complete strategy from the onset through to the full set up of the business and until the exits. We focus on niche areas in which we provide significant value add and are involved in select highly complex, innovative transactions. Core practice areas include Mergers & Acquisitions, International Tax, International Tax Litigation, Fund Formation, Fund Investments, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Capital Markets, Employment and HR, Intellectual...
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...Nearly There Economic Characteristics/Accounting Issues Nearly There designs, develops, manufactures and sells various navigation products and services. They are a public company registered with the SEC and their common stock trades on the stock exchange. The Company is well capitalized with a $100 million market capitalization for its common stock. Due to R&D expenses and slumping sales, Nearly There is in the need of additional capital. The Company's solution was to issue 5 million shares of Series B preferred stock at $1.20 per share. The proceeds received by the company totaled $5.9 million. The important terms of the Series B preferred stock included dividends, voting rights, conversion options, conversion price adjustment, redemption option and a mandatory redemption. There are two main accounting issues regarding the issuance of Series B preferred stock. The first issue is determining whether the host contract is a debt or equity security. The second issue is determining whether the Company needs to separate the conversion option and/or the redemption option in the Series B Preferred Stock from the host contract and account for them as separate derivative instruments. Another minor accounting issue is if the company was a private company and its common stock was not publicly traded, would it matter how the conversion and the redemption options were accounted for. i) Is the host contract more akin to a debt or equity instrument for the purpose of analyzing...
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...most people expect a certain level of security to be provided by their country. Freedom is defined as the right power of self-determination attributed to the will; the quality of being independent of fate or necessity. As citizens of the United States, we have fought several wars to complete our unique experience of practicing democracy; the mission of our Founding Fathers. Immigrants still risk their lives by scaling fences, swimming brisk waterways, and leaving their families to participate in this ambiguous concept called “freedom”. In order to protect freedom, someone has to pay the toll; subsequently it is the soldiers that often pick up the checks. I believe all men should support the military by serving two years (minimum) as a rite of passage, career exploration, and for the privilege of voting. Presently, we need soldiers all over the world, thus the need for manpower is uninterrupted. In fact, a show of numbers is an important strategy in deterring global conflict. Many cultures practice a metaphysical ceremony to acknowledge a conversion into adulthood. For example, the Spartans had what they called Helot Killing. In the Spartan society, all males had to go through fighter training. Spartan boys were ripped from their mothers at the age of seven, and attended warrior training until they were seventeen. When they turned eighteen, they would be sent off into the wilderness with knives, and had the mission of assassinating state-owned slaves (called helots)...
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...New York Times article, ‘What We’ve Seen in Australia with Mandatory Voting,’ it’s made very apparent in the article that America does indeed have a serious voter turnout problem. Is this really as big an issue as some would have you believe? Or is it better that we allow a continued disproportionate level of democratic power remain where it is? Although the implementation of compulsory voting, or mandatory voting, would mean that voter turnout would naturally increase, compulsory voting would neither benefit in our society or my district. This is largely due to the fact that even though my district would have more regulation in place to ensure a ballet is turned in, The majority of my district is uneducated and these would be the people showing up to vote. In Lisa Hill’s article, she compares Australia and the US several times but in truth, there is no comparison to be had. The United States is a world power and has almost 14 times as many people in our country than Australia. So while Ms Hill might be pleased with the way this program works in Australia, could you imagine the turnout here in the United States? More importantly, would the polls be able to handle the influx of voters turning out to take part in their constitutional right to have part in democracy It is a privilege to take part in democracy and have your voice heard through the casting of a vote. Americans do not have a right to possess this voting power nor is it their duty to do so. Our country was founded...
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...Voting. This is one of the great rights, that we as Americans have. We have the freedom to vote and the freedom to choose whether we want too or not. However, just because voting matters it does not mean that everyone does it. Studies show that barely 60% of voters participate in the elections that take place here. So why don’t voters vote? I mean we fought for the right to vote so why don’t we take that privilege? The question that face americans today is Should americans be required be to vote? I think Americans should be required to vote because Many nations have good voter turn out, we could have better informed voters and we could have higher voter turnout. The first reason i think americans should be required to vote is because many nations have good voter turnout. In Document A it shows that at least 40 countries have required voting. This is...
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...citizen, you are automatically registered. If the United States changes the voting system a little, it could increase voter’s turnout. Americans need to be more educated and know each candidate’s platforms. Voter’s turnout could increase if voters did not have to work on Election Day. If America followed some of the guidelines other countries use, the United States would have a higher voters turnout. Countries with a high voter turnout are due to the countries strictly enforced voting laws. In some countries you can be fined if you do not show up to the polls to vote. America does not have strict voting laws so it is not mandatory to show up and vote. In other countries if you are a citizen of the country you are automatically considered a registered voter. The United States is one of the only countries to hold Election Day during the week. Countries with high voters turnout have Election Day on the weekend. Voters in America do not want to...
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...Some people think prisoners should not have the right to vote, but many others think they should. About two million people in U.S. are in prison. All those people do not get to cast a vote in the election. They are not able to decide who runs the country they live in. Imagine not being able to have a say in our country. We are a democracy, which means everyone has the right to vote in our government. Prisoners should be allowed to vote because they still are citizens and still have rights. Prisoners should be able to vote and influence the outcome of an election . If all the prisoners were allowed to vote it may have an impact on the election. Prisoners want the chance to vote. As of February 2011 the United States was in the lead of number of prisoners with 2,019,234. Prisoners do not have a say in the government. In New York people who are on parole cannot vote. As of 2004 thirty-five states forbid people who have just been released from prison to vote. In the constitution it states everyone is given the right to vote. Amendment 15 is the voting rights act. In the first section of this amendment, it states the right to vote cannot be taken away from people based on their color, race, or what has happened previously in their life. That amendment is not being applied to the rights of prisoners. Only two states, Vermont and Maine, let everyone vote without ever stripping away rights (Robin Coe, Prisoners Voting Rights ehow.com). In Vermont the voting laws are you have to be a...
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