Obama Floats Idea of Mandatory Voting in U.S. - Big Money in Politics Bad for Democracy

President Barack Obama pushed for mandatory voting in the United States, saying it could change the political map and offset the influence of big money in politics which he said is "bad for democracy."

The President floated the idea in his speech at the City Club of Cleveland in Ohio on Wednesday, saying that such a concept is practiced in Australia and other countries.

Obama was asked during the open forum about overturning unlimited campaign spending that was a result of the Citizens United case in 2010 where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment barred the government from limiting political expenses by corporations, labor unions and associations.

"I think that -- now, I don't think I've ever said this publicly, but I'm going to go ahead and say it now," the President said. "We shouldn't be making it harder to vote. We should be making it easier to vote."

He said, "In Australia, and some other countries, there's mandatory voting."

Obama said mandatory voting "would counteract money more than anything."

The President noted that those who do not tend to vote are the young with lower income. "It would be transformative if everybody voted. If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country, because the people who tend not to vote are young; they're lower income; they're skewed more heavily towards immigrant groups and minority groups; and they're often the folks who are -- they're scratching and climbing to get into the middle class," he said.

Obama said there's a reason why some people try to keep them from voting.

"We should want to get them into the polls," he said. "So that may end up being a better strategy in the short term."

The President said "my Justice Department is going to be vigorous in terms of trying to enforce voting rights."

"I gave a speech down in Selma at the 50th anniversary that was incredibly moving for me and my daughters, and the notion that this day and age we would be deliberately trying to restrict the franchise makes no sense," he noted. "And at the state and local levels, that's -- you can push back against that, and make sure that we're expanding the franchise, not restricting it."

Obama noted that election campaigns in the U.S. are "unique" because of the "almost unlimited amounts of money that are now spent."

He said this is bad for democracy as it "makes life miserable on members of Congress, particularly those in competitive districts."

Obama said the Citizens United ruling "could be overturned by a new Court, or it could be overturned by constitutional amendment" but these are "extraordinarily challenging processes."

"So I think we have to think about what are other creative ways to reduce the influence of money, given that in the short term we not going to be able to overturn Citizens United," he said.