I find the psychology of voting fascinating. Most people are unwilling to vote for a third-party/longshot candidate, as their vote would be "wasted", despite th

I find the psychology of voting fascinating. Most people are unwilling to vote for a third-party/longshot candidate, as their vote would be "wasted", despite the fact that their single vote is guaranteed not to matter. I think the driving motivation for most is the desire to be on the winning team, or if you're in the wrong county/state, to be able to say you fought the good fight for your side. In other words, despite the secret ballot, people vote more for reasons of in-group signaling than attempting to influence policy. As you say, the 50ish percent we do get is impressive. If we really care about turnout (and disincentivizing some of the shadier techniques campaigns use to manipulate turnout), we should turn Voting Day into a national holiday and a mandatory duty (perhaps with an opt-out "I choose to abstain" for true protest votes, but the point is that you still have to show up or mail your ballot, period.)