Forcing people to vote doesn’t make them more engaged citizens, study finds

A new study of Belgian elections reveals that while compulsory voting drastically increases turnout, it does not automatically make citizens more interested in politics, knowledgeable about government, or supportive of democracy.

A recent study published in Public Opinion Quarterly provides evidence that requiring citizens to vote does not automatically make them more interested in politics or more supportive of democracy. The research suggests that removing penalties for not voting drastically reduces electoral participation but leaves a population’s political engagement and democratic attitudes largely unchanged. Compulsory voting is a system where eligible citizens are legally mandated to participate in elections.

In many of the roughly 25 countries that use this system, failing to cast a ballot can result in a fine or other penalties. Proponents of mandatory voting often argue that forcing people to the polls encourages them to learn about political issues and fosters a sense of civic duty. This issue has become increasingly relevant due to shifting electoral habits worldwide.

“This debate is held in part because of declining turnout rates in elections, so in this way we do also address a real-world problem,” said Dieter Stiers , a postdoctoral researcher for the Research Foundation Flanders at KU Leuven. The theory suggests that if everyone has to vote, political parties might expand their campaigns to educate a broader audience. “The main motivation was the fact that there is a recurrent argument made in the debate on compulsory voting, that has been proven to be very difficult to test empirically: that by forcing people to vote, they will become more engaged and interested in politics,” Stiers explained.

He noted that under voluntary systems, citizens can simply choose to ignore politics. “However, by making turnout obligatory, some kind of effort is mandatory. As they will need to vote anyway, it is argued, they will also be more likely to do at least some effort to learn about the parties and candidates.”

Critics argue that the system might breed resentment among those forced to the polls against their will. They also warn that compulsory voting might encourage unengaged citizens to vote at random, potentially lowering the overall political knowledge of the voting public. Prior research on this topic has produced highly mixed results.

Stiers and co-