Mandatory voting, on its face, seems to be an overall negative. Its cons are several.

1. Criminalizing people who may have had valid reasons for not voting, putting them in the position of having to justify why they could not vote.
2. Forcing people who may not be able to afford it to take time off from work, and pay for transportation to their polling station.
3. Forcing people to vote does not also mean forcing them to vote thoughtfully. People cannot be forced to educate themselves on the issues and the different candidates' views. The result would be to further dilute the already limited educated vote.

However, if done with some thought, there could potentially be some benefits too. If a secure system can be put in place that allows voters to vote by phone or computer, for example, that would drastically reduce the time and financial costs of voting. Allowing people to vote "none of the candidates fit my political beliefs" and/or "I don't know enough to choose the best candidate" could also reduce the impact of uneducated voting. If done with great thought and care, the following pros may emerge.

1. Inducing voting by people who know who they'd like to win, but have "better things to do" than vote, or who think that their vote doesn't make a difference because it's only one out of tens or hundreds of millions.
2. Getting more people interested in making an informed choice, thereby increasing the public's engagement in the political process over time.
3. Provide feedback to the political system as to just what fraction don't like any of the choices, and what fraction doesn't care enough to educate themselves. This information may motivate the powers that be to engage in more outreach to educate voters on issues and policies.