The Netherlands had it but then got rid of it why'd they get rid of it? Oh they just had a brain fart I mean there was no good reason what usually happens is a party on the right gets into power and then they just maneuver toget rid of it. It's not that hard to do if it's not enshrined in the Constitution which it isn't here and some American states have tried it my free donuts or free chiropractic adjustments to vote. If you did them all at once you still wouldn't get the same effect that you get just with compulsory voting that's the only thing on its own that can raise turnout into the 90 plus percentage range, says Sean
Midterm elections are a tough sell in the United States. Half of eligible voters show up in a good year. On Election Day, we’re revisiting an episode about how things work down under, where “sausage sizzles” and “bathers” make mandatory voting feel like a party.
This episode was originally produced by Noam Hassenfeld and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. It was updated by Amina Al-Sadi with help from Efim Shapiro and Matt Collette. New reporting by Amanda Lewellyn, Miles Bryan, Laura Bullard, and Hady Mawajdeh.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices