While commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday voting rights march in Selma, Ala., President Obama contrasted the historic achievement of the civil rights movement with the low turnout rates characteristic of American elections. “What’s our excuse today for not voting?” he asked. That same year, he floated a solution: mandatory universal voting. If all Americans were asked to show up to the polls on Election Day, the effects on representation and civic culture could be “transformative.” Unsurprisingly, the proposal went nowhere — compulsory voting is, and has long been, unpalatable to Americans. Criticism, particularly from the right, was swift and vehement.