Libertarians no doubt abhor the idea of anything compulsory, and voting is a prime case. They would probably say that a vote denied is a vote in itself. You shouldn’t force people to take part in elections.
However, the fact is that the US has the lowest voting rates of any democracy, just when we need the highest participation to register dismay at the high-jacking of the legislatures (all of them). Australia, has mandatory voting. In their elections of 2013 the voter turnout for the lower house of parliament was 93.34%, and for the senate 94%. Compare these figures with 36% overall in 2014 for the US mid-term elections, despite control of Congress being up for grabs and the possibility of changes in state governors.
There are all sorts of reasons for this dismal turnout – disillusionment, the perception that whoever you vote for will work for rich people and corporations, the importance of money in the process, the seemingly inevitable general decline in so many aspects of life etc. But the counter-argument is that you get what you deserve, and by not voting, guess what, you get what you deserve – being totally ignored.
Epicurus lived at a similar time of disillusionment and violence, and advised distancing oneself from politics. On this point I strongly disagree with him. If you want axaraxia, a happy life left alone to enjoy a beautiful garden, friends and companionship, then ignoring the corruption and self-seeking around you is not a good idea. Aside from the concept of the citizen’s duty, one also has a duty to try and make sure that our rulers act on behalf of all the people, you and your friends included.
I think there are many things America can do to increase voter turnout without compulsory voting: compulsory voter registration, online voting, Sunday voting, making all the primaries open, increasing the terms of House Representatives from two years to four to reduce voter fatigue, proportional representation to give people a wider choice of parties, maybe having two days of voting instead of one. Once all those things have been tried, and voter turnout remains exactly as it is now, I would consider compulsory voting. But at least give common-sense measures designed to improve turnout first.
Having said all that, I think low turnout is discouraging but not quite the travesty many people on the Left make it out to be. On the day of the UK election last year, I advised my best friend not to vote because he was so seemingly ill-informed of the choice he had to make. He wasn’t interested in politics, and was too busy focusing on the upcoming A level exams. I suspect a lot (if not the majority) of people are like that. They are not necessarily apathetic about politics, they just simply aren’t interested in it. Personally I respect that- there is no moral imperative to be political anymore than there is to enjoy physics, psychology or philosophy. If the result of lower voter turnout is that the electorate is more informed (I’m not suggesting it actually is) than I wouldn’t be too upset by that.