> Mandatory voting just results in on-average less informed voters, doesn't it? If someone can't be bothered to go to the polls, what makes you think they'll be

> Mandatory voting just results in on-average less informed voters, doesn't it? If someone can't be bothered to go to the polls, what makes you think they'll be bothered to inform themselves of the issues and candidates? Apathy can be driven from a feeling of helplessness as well as simply not really caring or knowing what's happening. Additionally, if people had to vote, would they try and engage more? I guess the key question would be, would the ill-informed that don't vote cause enough of an issue to outweigh the benefits of having higher participation from those who feel simply more left out? I would love to see other propositions as well, currently a candidate/party has two main actions that are beneficial for them: 1. Make more people vote for them 2. Make fewer people vote for the other side So weirdly our politicians are rewarded for lowering participation in groups that don't vote their way. What if we could link the control with the total turnout? Perhaps at least with some things, like to force a bill past the Lords requires enough MPs to represent more than X% of the country itself. Maybe this would be a terrible idea, but I'd love to know what other alternatives we could consider.