Australia, Brazil and Singapore are among the 14 countries that have compulsory voting laws. Despite declining turnouts in US elections, the idea has seldom been mentioned here by prominent politicians — until yesterday. At a town hall event in Cleveland yesterday, when asked how he would offset the increasing influence of money in American elections, President Obama responded, "It would be transformative if everybody voted, that would counteract money more than anything." That comment has started a conversation about mandatory voting.
Photo: Peter Dutton