What if when you stepped into the
election booth to cast your vote this
election season you had to justify your
vote? Instead of just puling that lever in favor of your chosen
candidate you had to write a little essay on why you voted for them.
Your little justification would then be subject to review by a machine (to avoid partisan opinions) to make sure you knew exactly what you were doing. If your essay was crap it would be rejected and your vote would be nullified.
I know this sounds crazy and i'm sure it will never happen but it interesting to think about. The sad truth is that a lot of people step into the booth and vote for a certain candidate because they like how they look or because they're name sounds cool. This means that all these bullshit votes could sway the elections in favor of a candidate that they really don't want elected.
This little justification things would force people who wanted to vote to actually think ahead of time about what they were doing. Some might say that this is unfair but who can't right a few sentences saying why they like that candidate? If someone can't do this simple task maybe they shouldn't be voting in the first place.
Some might say this wouldn't be democracy which really I can't argue with but it's not like only smart people can do this. It only takes a little bit of time and effort to learn about the candidates and make an educated decision. Anybody who can read can probably handle this task. People who can't handle this shouldn't be voting and probably won't even bother to vote.
In the end not only will the elections be real reflections of what the people really want but also it will force the general public to become more educated which is always a good thing.
I thought I should mention I'm liberal. I can't even vote yet so what ever I think isn't even really important yet. Never the less I thought I should put his idea out in the open and see what people think. Honestly, I don't think it will even have a large impact on the outcome just because most of the people who decide to vote or pretty intelligent and think about who they are going to vote for.