A majority with no standing in the matter should have zero influence over the rights of a minority whose interests are directly affected. You're advocating the

A majority with no standing in the matter should have zero influence over the rights of a minority whose interests are directly affected. You're advocating the two wolves vs. one sheep model of unchecked direct democracy, which is pretty much the worst of all possible choices short of a malevolent oligopoly or dictatorship. When people speak fondly of "democracy" what most of them have in mind is a representative, republican form of government with at least some legal protection for the rights of minorities, even when the majority disagree. This is orthogonal to the issue of whether voting should be mandatory or (pseudo-)voluntary[1]. Mandatory voting ensures higher participation at the expense of encouraging less informed voting on average. It also masks the absence of consent which would be implied by abstaining. (You can turn in a blank/voided ballot in protest under most mandatory systems but there is no record of who did that, whereas there must be a record of who did or did not vote.) "Voter suppression" is frankly not a very plausible explanation for why a majority of outsiders with no particular interest in the matter have thus failed to vote to set aside local planning rules (which for the most part don't affect them) and force cities to allow more high-density construction. Even if you made voting mandatory it's unlikely that this would change. And are you going to require everyone in the state (or country, or world) to take the time to vote yes or no on every trivial local ordinance? Besides being impractical, that would certainly generate a great deal of resentment regarding both the mandatory voting and the outside interference in local affairs. [1] "Pseudo-voluntary" because to be actually voluntary the majority would need to respect the preexisting rights of those who didn't participate in the vote and the absence of their consent, and refrain from infringing on those rights as they attempt to carry out the majority's will. Since in practice you'll be made to conform to the result whether or not you participate, and others will insist that you accept the majority's will because "you had your chance to be represented" regardless of the degree of influence you did or (more likely) did not have on the outcome of the vote, it can't really be considered voluntary.