Tom Hennessy, Colorado Brewer, Proposes Mandatory Voting Statute for Ridgway

Tom Hennessy proposes mandatory voting statute for town of Ridgway, Co. Could impose fines for non-voters without good reason.

Tom Hennessy, owner of Colorado Boy Pub and Brewer, is proposing that the mostly dirt-street town of Ridgway, near the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, become a national model by enacting a mandatory-voting statute. Residents who don't vote for no good reason would be fined. Wow and they call President Obama a Socialist. This is the same town that reportedly fine residents if their fences are too high or their weeds are out of control. Hennessy, a brewer and pub owner, said, "We could do this. It would be a paradigm shift." "We could be the great civics lesson in representative democracy."

Well, he has some support. The Town Council agreed to put the matter on the ballot for a recent town election as a nonbinding opinion question. I can understand Mr. Hennessy's frustrations since only 170 of the 790 registered voters marked ballots in the last town election and in the past decade, as few as 82 voters have gone to the polls, the Denver Post notes. Still, you can't force people to vote and threaten them with fines in the process.

Read more: Proposal to make voting mandatory riles Ridgway | Denver Post