Comments by "Neil Forbes" (@neilforbes416) on "How To Increase Voter Turnout Without Mandatory Voting?" video.

  1. Proportional Representation works by division of states into "electorates" with the voter numbers roughly equal to within a tolerance of plus-or-minus 5% A candidate representing each major party, or minor party, or even independent candidate contests the seat. There is, in Australia preference deals between candidates but we'll leave them out as Americans would never understand them. The candidate with the highest number of votes wins the seat(electorate). The party that gets the highest number of electorates(50% plus one electorate is the minimum number required) wins government and the leader of the winning party becomes Prime Minister(the party leader is determined in-house by party members). The executive power of government is vested in the Prime Minister and his/her cabinet. The President should be no more than a ceremonial figurehead whose only real role is as umpire in resolution of disputes.
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  2. American citizens have no control over their "elected officials" who get into office off the back of the citizens' vote, then proceed to do "whatever they damn-well please, and bugger the citizens!" That INCLUDES  gerrymandering electoral boundaries.
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  3. Because of the vastness of America, it may need more than a weekend, more like a full week. Registration to vote on turning 18 is a good idea, but not to vote in a given way(i.e.: to vote Democrat or Republican). Voting should be in person, not by mail. Voter suppression rackets MUST BE OUTLAWED! If the party, whichever one it is, is found guilty of voter suppression, the party is deregistered on the spot and barred from future elections WITHOUT RIGHT OF APPEAL! Finally, the SAME method of voting MUST be applied ACROSS ALL 50 STATES!
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  4. Candidates should be vetted and chosen by their party BEFORE being presented to the public to be voted on. The American system is over-long and convoluted, compared to the streamlined Australian method. The Australian method has its faults, yes. But it is FAR AND AWAY SUPERIOR to the American method.
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  5. +Blair M Schirmer: This is where the Australian method of preselection works. The Party determines an ran & file level(local) who their candidate will be in each electoral seat, then they determine who the federal or state leader will be. Federally the winning party's leader becomes the Prime Minister, at State level he/she becomes the Premier. The party looks for the candidate most likely to win his/her local electoral seat, and if the candidate happens to be the one chosen as party leader, he/she still needs to win his/her electoral seat before being able to assume the Prime Minister's role, as long as his/her party wins the 50%+1 seat minimum required. Under a method like ours in Australia, if applied to America, then Trump would've been turfed out with a foot up his useless arse(trouble is, there were no other Republican candidates worthy of being President either), and Hilary Clinton would've lost out to Bernie Sanders. But the Presidency should NEVER be anything beyond ceremonial figurehead status with only one real role, that being an umpire in dispute resolution. Executive governmental power SHOULD be vested in the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
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  6. +Killer Funghoul 1) Keep voting age at 18. 16-year-olds may be politically aware but are often not mature enough to make such important decisions. 2) Postal votes should only be used in sparsely-populated areas where its more than 60 miles to the township from the home. 3) Ex-prisoner voting rights should return after parole has elapsed, however, convicted paedophiles should never ever be allowed to vote, even if they've been released and served out parole. 4) Major fault with this is that it does not allow for anyone whose employment requires them to move houses constantly. 5) In Australia, schools ARE used as polling places, as are community halls, but, in keeping with separation of church and state, don't use churches. 6) Considering the size of America, population-wise, as well as geographically, polling stations should open from 6.00am in each time zone and stay open until 11.00pm in each time zone and Voter Suppression tactics MUST BE OUTLAWED, Attempting such practice by any party, major or minor, should see that party immediately and permanently BARRED from that, and further elections. 7) Minor parties should be able to contest seats, as well as independent candidates. It's entirely up to the populace to form a party or for individuals to run as independents. and one more here, 8) As the Republicans are known to practice voter-suppression tactics, and the Democrats are also likely to have engaged in such practices, America's elections should be managed by a neutral nation, and run according to that neutral nation's electoral laws and practices.
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  7. Voter suppression is an obscenity! If the Republicans are actively engaging in such practice, then it must also be assumed the Democrats are doing it too! Therefore, America's voting processes should be TAKEN OUT OF AMERICA'S HANDS, as clearly, AMERICA CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO RUN FREE, FAIR AND OPEN ELECTIONS! A neutral country should run the process according to its OWN electoral laws, *zum beispiel: If Canada were to run the American elections, they'd be run according to CANADIAN electoral law, if Australia ran the elections, then they'd be run according to AUSTRALIAN electoral law. (*German - means "for example"). As for being Mandatory(compulsory), yes! ABSOLUTELY! Optional voting leads to apathy. When this happens it's usually the extremists who take advantage of the situation. An extreme right-wing candidate(KKK or Nazi-sympathiser) gets in because he(usually male as they're often also misogynistic) gets like-minded voters out to the polling booths while the democrat or republican opposition candidate can barely muster a dozen votes because his potential voters have "heard it all before" and couldn't be bothered dragging themselves that quarter-mile down to the polling booth. APATHY will get extremist candidates into office! Compulsory voting will NEGATE and CANCEL OUT the extremist candidate's chances.
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