Thursday's NBC Today seized on President Obama's seeming advocacy for mandatory voting in the United States during a town hall event on Wednesday, with fill-in news anchor Tamron Hall declaring: "The President said the U.S. should be making it easier to vote, not harder. He says if everyone voted, it would completely change the political map."
Minutes later, co-host Carson Daly noted that Obama "has a lot of people, including us, talking this morning" and played a clip of the President's remarks: "In Australia and some other countries there's mandatory vote. It would be transformative if everybody voted. That would counteract money more than anything."
Daly followed up by pushing liberal talking points on the issue:
So the President went on to say the people that don't vote tend to be young, of lower income and part of minority groups. And those are the people that we should try and get to the polls. In fact, if you think about this, less than 37% of eligible voters voted in the last midterm election. That's roughly 144 million people. That is bigger, that is more people than the population of Russia.
He noted largely negative social media reaction to the idea:
We asked you on the Facebook page, should voting be mandatory in the U.S.? Right now, it is pretty overwhelming no, 78 to 22 percent saying yes. Let's get to a couple examples. Jill writes in, "Voting is a right, not something that should be mandatory. An uneducated vote because it's mandatory is more harmful to our country than a non-vote." Alexandria takes the other side, saying, "Making mandatory voting opens the eyes to many that never knew much about voting. Good call, Obama!"
Wrapping up the segment, fellow co-host Matt Lauer chimed in: "No matter what, they do need to find ways to make it easier to vote." Weatherman Al Roker added: "Not harder." Hall suggested: "Like making it a holiday."
Hall, Roker, and co-host Willie Geist revisited the topic at the top of the 9 a.m. ET hour. Geist teed up the soundbite of Obama by describing how the President "was asked how we as a country can offset the influence of campaign money politics while also fixing the big problem of low voter turnout."
Like Daly, Geist touted the same talking points about low voter turnout: "So in the 2012 presidential election, voter turnout was just under 62%. But last fall in the mid-terms, we had the worst turnout since the 1940s. Fewer than 37% of Americans eligible to vote did so in the mid-term elections. It's obviously a big problem, we've got to get people out."
However, Geist did express skepticism: "I don't think I'd go as far as mandatory voting, though. What do you guys think?" Roker agreed: "...this is a right that you should exercise but you shouldn't be made to." Geist added: "I think you reserve the right not to vote. If don't like any of the candidates, you step away from it."
Hall kept pushing the idea of creating a national holiday:
I think it's also scheduling. It's on a weekday. I think it should be, at least the presidential elections, should be a national holiday so that at least every four years, people can take off, less traffic. But when you think about it, working, dropping your kids off, you've got a second job – all of these things that factor into your weekday already. Yes, it's a responsibility to vote. But you're also responsible to get to work and trying to juggle that. So that's why I think my vote is a national holiday, at least for the presidential.
Roker countered: "But by the same token, when you watch that movie Selma and you're reminded of what people, both black and white, went through in this country to try to secure voting rights. The things that people did. A little inconvenience on our part today, I don't know, is an excuse not to go vote."
Hall argued: "I get it. But I mean, I just think also, why not make it easier?" Roker proclaimed: "Make it as easy as possible."
Geist wrapped up the discussion: "Registration and voting should be easier, but not mandatory. So says me."
Here is a transcript of the 7 a.m. ET hour coverage of the topic on the March 19 Today:
7:17 AM ET
TAMRON HALL: Meantime, President Obama is floating the idea of making it mandatory to vote in the United States, during a discussion on voting rights and campaign finance in Cleveland. The President said the U.S. should be making it easier to vote, not harder. He says if everyone voted, it would completely change the political map.
7:20 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Carson is in the Orange Room. We're going to go back to something really interesting that Tamron said a couple minutes ago. The president floating this idea of whether voting should be mandatory.
CARSON DALY: And there's a lot to say on it as you can imagine. As Tamron mentioned, President Obama spoke to Cleveland about the importance of middle class importance. He was asked how he can offset the influence of campaign money in politics and still improve the country's low voter turnout. His response has a lot of people, including us, talking this morning. Take a look.
BARACK OBAMA: In Australia and some other countries there's mandatory vote. It would be transformative if everybody voted. That would counteract money more than anything.
DALY: So the President went on to say the people that don't vote tend to be young, of lower income and part of minority groups. And those are the people that we should try and get to the polls. In fact, if you think about this, less than 37% of eligible voters voted in the last midterm election. That’s roughly 144 million people. That is bigger, that is more people than the population of Russia.
We asked you on the Facebook page, should voting be mandatory in the U.S.? Right now, it is pretty overwhelming no, 78 to 22 percent saying yes. Let's get to a couple examples. Jill writes in, "Voting is a right, not something that should be mandatory. An uneducated vote because it's mandatory is more harmful to our country than a non-vote.” Alexandria takes the other side, saying, "Making mandatory voting opens the eyes to many that never knew much about voting. Good call, Obama!" So there's going to be a lot more on this guys coming up. Back to you.
GUTHRIE: I think it's so interesting. I can see the arguments on both sides. I don't even know where I come down on it.
MATT LAUER: No matter what, they do need to find ways to make it easier to vote.
TAMRON HALL: Like making it a holiday.
AL ROKER: Not harder.
LAUER: Alright Carson, thank you very much.
