Fact: voting in Argentina is obligatory

At first I was pretty much not a fan of the idea, because I believe that voting is a personal decision and responsibility and therefore it is just as much a right to vote as it is a right to choose to abstain from voting. But once I found out that you can vote 'blanca' which means you show up to the polls but just turn in a blank ballot… I couldn’t find fault with the system.

Perhaps people chose not to vote out of sheer laziness. But that makes me wonder, Do we really want everyone to vote? I mean, there are many uninformed people in the world, who could care less about politics. Perhaps it is better that such people aren’t at the polls just randomly picking names…

“Without Participation, There is No Democracy” - a wall on my walk to the bus stop