Compulsory voting upholds the public good of voting in a democracy, DAT
Lever, Annabelle. Compulsory Voting A Critical Perspective British Journal of
Political Science (2009).
The key idea here is that a democratic electoral system is a public good, in that all citizens get to benefit from it, even if they do nothing to contribute to it. Because it is a public good, it is possible to free-ride, or to enjoy the benefits of that good, without contributing oneself and, indeed, most people will have an interest in doing precisely that. Nonvoters, therefore, can be seen as free-riders, selfishly and immorally exploiting voters. The moral force of this point is twofold. First, it reinforces the idea that no morally significant liberties are threatened by compulsory turnout and, secondly, it carries the battle into the enemy camp. It is selfish and
exploitative to benefit from the efforts of other people without making any effort to contribute. So, far
from compulsion being unjustified, or even morally neutral, it seems positively desirable, as a curb on
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