When Voting Becomes a Rule Instead of a Right

I had to think about this question for a while before I can respond as I'm not really familiar with these things as a citizen, yeah, I know that's not cool. Well, the question is like asking: What if voting was not just a right, but a rule? Not the soft kind of rule we can ignore, but a strict one. If you do not vote, you will face the legal trouble.

It actually sounds like a strong way to fix the common problem, that is low voter turnout. But the more I think about it, the more I see both the good and the not so good sides. As usual, everything has both sides. I'll start with the possible good that I think this would bring first.

If voting were mandatory, there would likely be more people who show up on election day. There would be no more empty polling units or low participation numbers and it means leaders would be chosen by a larger part of the population, not just a small, active group. Which would be mean the election is done more fairly.

For someone who doesn't paying much attention to government, politics and all, I would say mandatory voting could push people like me to pay more attention to what is happening in the country. Like being more interested in learning about candidates, their plans, and how they affect our lives building a more informed society.

But then, there’s the other side.

Forcing people to vote can easily lead to resentment. When people feel pushed into something, especially something as personal as political choice, they may not take it seriously. Some might vote randomly just to avoid punishment. Others might spoil their ballots on purpose. In that case, yes, turnout increases, but the quality of those votes becomes questionable.

There’s also the issue of freedom. Voting is often seen as a right, not an obligation. Turning it into something you can be punished for avoiding changes that meaning. It raises a simple but strong question, should the government have that level of control over personal decisions?

If we're being honest, making something mandatory does not always fix the real problem. The real issue might not be that people don’t want to vote. It could be that they don’t trust the system, don’t feel their vote matters or will count, or don’t see leaders who truly represent them.

So, which side weighs more?

Personally, I think the negative side carries more weight. Not because participation is not important, but because how we get people involved matters just as much as the involvement itself. A better approach, in my view, is to make people want to vote. This can start with education. When people understand how their vote connects to real changes in their daily lives, I do think they will be more likely to care to vote.

So, while the idea of “voting by force” might seem like a quick fix, it risks creating more problems than it solves. Real change comes from building a system people trust and want to be part of. And maybe that’s the deeper question we should be asking: not “how do we force people to vote?” but “why don’t they want to vote in the first place?”