Suffrage

During an utterly random conversation with jcalanthe--I think we were trying to come up with countries least likely to take over the world--I ended up doing some reading on Luxembourg. And I discovered that they have compulsory suffrage.

I was kind of, well, dumbfounded. Somehow my American education never prepared me for the concept--we've spent so much of our history trying to prevent various groups from even being able to vote that it seems somehow counterintutive to say, "You MUST vote," 'cause, hell, "You CAN vote" has been the big improvement for said various groups in the last hundred fifty years.

So far, I've got Luxembourg, Australia, Paraguay, Singapore, Chile, and Albania. Where else is there compulsory suffrage? And, I know I have some Australians on my friends list--how do you feel about it? That seems like an inane question, but--just--I don't know. Does it promote more attention to politics? If you want to abstain due to lack of viable candidates, are you allowed to turn in a blank ballot? What is it like?

AND WHY DON'T WE HAVE IT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?

I'm henceforth putting compulsory suffrage into any government I design.