Absolutely, under no circumstances should voting be mandatory. Voting is first and foremost the single most defining action to represent our right to choose in the simple act of choosing. How can we tell someone they don't have a choice in that?

The purpose of an election is not to make people comfortable. It's to help ensure the the views and needs of the many are given priority over the few. Currently our election system is broken. With voting optional only the opinion of a small amount of the population is being heard. With compulsory voting the numbers have shown a clear model to achieve success in this endeavor. Besides in its very nature voting should probably cause some discomfort since you're approving and disapproving someones stance.

Apparently my opponent misunderstood. The act of voting is making a choice yes, I was stating that the whole point is for the majority to be heard. My opponent seems to not realize that no one's gonna be led to the voting booth at gunpoint. Rather we enact a system where registered voters who abstain from voting are fined and so many votes abstained removes the from the register. If you tell ppl they'll lose their right for not using it, which I believe is fair, that would be quite motivating I believe. Now since we're using hypotheticals apparently to imagine a world where citizens cared so little they forgot voting was important and allowed dictators and war mongers take over their country because they didn't want to vote after work. No two great and peaceful world leaders, President Obama and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaux along with many other peace loving politicians stand strongly in support of this topic.