Should voting be mandatory in the United States?

Every version of mandatory voting ends the same way: a fine. And fines in America land hardest on the people with the least. We already know this from traffic tickets, court fees, and fare evasion: a $20 penalty is nothing to a lawyer and a crisis to a single mother choosing between that and groceries. The research on fines and fees is brutal on this point: flat penalties punish poverty, not apathy. Brennan Center Because here's who gets fined: the night-shift worker who slept through Election Day, the person whose ID didn't match the rolls, the renter who moved and never got the notice. Not the engaged citizens, they're already voting. You would be building a new pipeline that converts poverty and disorganization into government debt, and then defenders would call it civic virtue. If the goal is higher turnout, automatic registration and a national holiday would get you most of the way there without turning nonvoting into a misdemeanor.