Should turnout in mass elections be voluntary or compulsory? Existing normative defenses of compulsory voting often rest on contested claims about a moral duty to vote or the democratic legitimacy of high turnout. This article strengthens the normative case by arguing that compulsory voting can improve democratic outcomes by reducing political polarization—a force shown to increase the risk of democratic backsliding.
Equal turnout supports equal representation, but mandatory voting may shift who shows up.
In many democracies, voting is mandatory for some citizens while optional for others.️ This discrepancy creates an intriguing puzzle about voter behavior. Why do reluctant voters—those who typically don't participate in elections—even vote when compelled? Does their voting reflect genuine ideological preferences or simply compliance with the law?️
This study investigates how mandatory voting influences public dissatisfaction with democracy, challenging the common assumption that compulsory participation fosters pro-democratic views.
Who casts blank or spoiled ballots under mandatory voting? This study identifies politically unengaged, distrusting, disaffected individuals as driving increased invalid balloting in countries with compulsory voting. A key finding reveals that these voters turn out primarily to avoid sanctions for abstention rather than participate meaningfully. Why It Matters: The results suggest voter engagement campaigns might help mitigate this problem.
This article argues that compulsory voting encourages political parties to shift toward programmatic vote seeking and away from clientelistic tactics like vote buying. Across multiple studies, including cross-national analyses comparing countries with mandatory voting (e.g., Thailand) and optional systems, synthetic control methods analyzing regional reforms in places like Argentina, and direct tests using list experiments measuring party behavior changes, the findings consistently support this theory.
Under compulsory voting, citizens use two main methods to abstain from elections: invalid voting and absenteeism. This paper analyzes these forms in Brazil, the world’s largest mandatory-voting democracy.
Compulsory voting is typically thought to close the turnout gap between rich and poor. Using Brazil—the largest country that enforces compulsory voting—evidence shows the opposite: compulsory voting increases turnout inequality by education (a proxy for socioeconomic status).