Denis McClure

Should voting be mandatory in the United States?

Here's who would actually get punished. Enforcement never falls evenly in this country. Fines become warrants, warrants become arrests, and that pipeline runs through Black neighborhoods, immigrant communities, and people working two jobs who can't take a Tuesday off. We've watched this exact machinery operate with court fees and municipal fines for decades. A mandatory voting law hands it a brand-new reason to come after the same people. The folks most likely to miss an election are the folks with the least slack in their lives, they would pay the highest price. [Brennan Center](https://www.brennancenter.org/) has documented how the criminalization of poverty already works through fines and fees. This would bolt voting onto that machine.