@toby-pereira that’s a great point. But say that were an “abstain” option. Then being compelled to enter a voting booth may put a person who would only have cast a nontrivial ballot if convenient into a position where they’re likely to cast that ballot anyway, because the inconvenience becomes a sunk cost.

In that instance, participation in the social sense would be compulsory, but not in the formal sense. At the same time, it makes the choice to abstain a more directly interpretable act of protest. In principle, abstain options could even include rationale. If abstaining were still formally allowed, I’m not sure I would find it unappealing if showing up to vote (or submitting a mail-in ballot) were like filing taxes.