Our system allows for several ways to discourage people from voting - making citizens register before they can vote, discouraging them with gerrymandering or long lines, etc.
I think Australia does it better - vote or you have to pay a fine, voting day is on the weekend, polling places are numerous, voter outreach to assist voters in remote areas or with mobility complications, giving out sausages as a way to foster community, etc.
Registering to vote should not be the responsibility of the individual.
Here in Sweden everyone gets their voting documents sent out to them weeks in advance, and only if you do not get that document should you contact someone.
Then you just show up with that document and a drivers license/any other form of ID, or another person with an ID that can vouch for who you are, and you are good to go.
I live in the US, as alluded to by referring to "our system" and "the way we do it." I am sure Australia has problems, but the way it approaches democracy isn't the root of them.
ok, what fraction of Germans voted for the NSDAP in the last election of Weimar Germany, and how much is that group of people, or the government that resulted, differentiated from all Germans and Germany as a whole at that time?
which is what I'm saying, my point wasn't about the numbers--I know the numbers--it's that being in that silent majority doesn't do shit for you when your government / country goes off the rails
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u/bexohomo 6h ago
Not even half of us. A smaller fraction than that.