RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN COMPULSORY VOTING
Coverage begins in October of 2020. For an overview of earlier events, see Chapter 1 of my book on compulsory voting. 

2021
April 2021
Peru

• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people aged 65 or over who did not vote in the general election were not subject to sanctions. Typically, the exception to the voting obligation begins at age 70. Sanctions were also waived for people in health-based COVID-19 risk groups. Face masks were compulsory for all voters.​
  

March 2021
Azerbaijan 

• The leader of the Republican Alternative Party, Ilgar Mammadov, proposed the adoption of compulsory voting. 

India

• The Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly called for the nationwide implementation of compulsory voting. Voting is already compulsory, though abstention is not punished, in select local elections in Karnataka. 

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January 2021
France

• A group of three senators tabled a bill that would make voting compulsory and allow for the recognition of blank votes.

Peru

• Congressional candidate Adriana Tudela has made ending compulsory voting a centerpiece of her campaign for the April 2021 general election on the grounds that a "captive vote" leads parties to make a weak effort to present quality candidates and policy proposals. 

United States

• A Connecticut state senator proposed a bill that would institute a $20 fine for abstention without a valid excuse or conscientious objection. Violators would have the option of serving two hours of community service in lieu of paying the fine. 

​2020
December 2020
Brazil

• Vice President Hamilton Mourão questioned the need for mandatory voting on the grounds that many candidates were elected with fewer votes than the sum of blank votes, null votes, and abstentions in the second round of municipal elections, which had a turnout of about 70% of registered voters. Shortly thereafter, two members of the Supreme Federal Court defended compulsory voting, noting its ability to neutralize radicalism and the trivial nature of the fine for abstention in Brazil, while also noting that optional voting would be ideal for Brazil after further democratic consolidation.

November 2020
Brazil

• False information spread on social media claiming that those aged 60 and above would not be obliged to participate in municipal elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In reality, the constitutional stipulation that individuals age 18-70 are required to vote applied. Legislation introduced in the lower house in July 2020 would have lowered the maximum age of enforcement to 60 for the 2020 municipal elections, but it was not approved. 

Chile

• Four senators introduced a bill aimed at amending the constitution to reinstate compulsory voting (which was abolished in 2012) for those under 65 years of age.

October 2020
Bolivia

• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people aged 60 or over who did not vote in the general election were not subject to sanctions. Typically, the exception to the voting obligation begins at age 70. 

Chile

• In a national plebiscite, Chileans voted to replace the country’s constitution. Voting in the plebiscite was voluntary, and participation in the April 2021 election of the members of the convention that will write the new constitution will also be voluntary. However, voting in the 2022 ratification plebiscite, to be held in the second half of 2022, will be compulsory.

Portugal

• André Ventura, a member of parliament, presidential candidate, and founder of Chega, a right-wing party, proposed a constitutional revision that would introduce sanctioned compulsory voting.