Should voting be mandatory?

[Psychic Octopus]

No, that would be a terrible idea. It's more then likely that the people that don't vote would be just as uninformed if not more then those who vote already.

Another note is what if someone is interested in politics, but hates all the candidates - why should he be forced to make the "lesser of two evils" choice?

EDIT: I agree with Brandon that if this was ever implemented, a NOTA option would have to be required.

[Psychic Octopus]

If this happened in the UK, it would probably help Labour more than the Tories, but the BNP might get a lot of "spite votes".

In any case, I oppose. It's too authoritarian.

In truth, I would suspect the Democrats would ultimately benefit from this. The Republicans are masters of keeping their voters loyal, but the Democrats have much easier ideas to sell.

"You want everyone to have health care? Then vote Democrat! You want Social Security when you are older? Vote Democrat! You want to end the Iraq war? Then vote Democrat on November 4th!"