The terrain
At least 24-31 nations have laws for compulsory voting, and most of those are democratic nations, more on democracies in a bit. The laws derive from the problem of turnout, the Harvard Law Review
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elaborates: One solution to the problem of low voter turnout is to require all eligible voters to vote bylaw. Approximately twenty-four nations have some kind of compulsory voting law, representing 17% of the world's democratic nations. n The effect of compulsory voting laws on voter turnout is substantial. Multivariate statistical analyses have shown that compulsory voting laws raise voter turnout by seven to sixteen percentage points. n The effects are likely to be even greater in a country such as the United States, which has a much lower baseline of voter turnout than many of the countries that have already adopted compulsory voting. n The literature also commonly cites Australia as a model of success given the large increase in voter
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Austria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Fiji, France (senate only, Gabon, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mexico, Nauru, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland (Schaffhausen), Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay The Case For Compulsory Voting In The United States December, 2007. 121 Harv. L. Rev.
591. Lexis.
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