Well we have had this discussion here in Canada and I say no. In a Democracy we should have the Freedom to not vote, however a 50 Dollar income tax deduction for voting would be of some use I believe.
Should citizens be forced to vote by law?
Sort:
I should have added that while I would prefer the freedom to abstain from voting, I fear that there are terrible repercusions from making the vote non-compulsory.
That is, with so many in the population being totally apathetic about politics in general, the door is opened to vested interest groups with a very narrow focus developing too much political leverage. e.g religious movements siding with the conservative side of politics because of one or two issues only, like abortion or gay rights.
Because of this, I fear that the will of the population at large can be too easily hijacked by special interest groups, simply because such groups heard their flock toward the polling booth when in fact such voters are just as apathetic as the population as a hole.
I guess this means I wish voting were not compulsory, but for practical reasons feel we must force voters off their butt at least once every few years.
Please be relevant and try to be nice!