According to the Center for the Study of the American Electorate, in the last four presidential elections the percentage of voters to participate has not peaked 62.3 percent. This means that nearly 38 percent of the population has chosen to abstain from casting their ballot. Leading us to question why this is happening in the first place. Well in the United States it can be pretty much summed up to apathy; a lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.

There are reasons that on the surface seem to be legitimate that nonvoters give for their lack of participation; the length of the lines might be too long, registration forms are too difficult to fill out, or they are just too busy are given as typical top excuses. Maybe even they do not fully see the effects or power that anyone elected into office has. They are just that, excuses. If the same people swapped the purpose of the event from voting to say purchasing the next iPhone, or concert tickets they would not justify their lack of attendance with any of those reasons.

Now since these voters are essentially not interested to attend by their own choice, what would happen if they were forced to vote? Well obviously the amount of votes across candidates would increase due to the compulsory attendance. Perhaps this would alter election results. But it cannot be guaranteed that forced votes would improve the quality of the results.

An individual’s vote is important but if it is uninformed it performs a detrimental action against the rest of the electorate. Nonvoters that have not been able to put the effort into ticking a checkbox, cannot be expected to spend the time learning about candidates in all parties and their positions on current issues. When individuals like this are forced to vote, they just vote. Because of this compulsory voting is one of the worst things we can do to change our election process.

What needs to happen is the culture and attitude associated with voting has to change. Today candidates like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are doing just that. They are energizing the populace to speak their minds and causing spiked attendance at their rallies. Even if these candidates are not your frontrunners, they are breaking the mold of the traditional candidate.

These candidates are starting to change the political scene, but we need to change the conversation. When you discuss politics or bring up issues remember that the focus of discussion is to not convert a person to your beliefs. It is to involve them, remember too ask them about their opinions. Make conversation, show individuals that they have interesting points to bring to the table, even if it is contrary to your beliefs. An appreciated individual will continue the conversation, will develop interest in the process, and will be more likely to make an informed vote.