I am the Kat that Walks By Itself

if only because I imagine that would result in a lot of very uninformed people making their nonexistent opinions known.
I'm kind of appalled by that statement.

But perhaps knowing that you MUST vote would encourage people to better inform themselves.
That is my theory, yes. Not that everyone will better inform themselves - that would be too much to expect - but that more people would better inform themselves than they would have otherwise.

Another good thing is that the turnout for voting is not at the mercy of the weather, either.

Apathy is the enemy of democracy.