-- YvetteFerrer - 25 May 2012

I'm not sure about the extent to which low minority turnout is unique to the US, but for what it's worth, Australia has a compulsory voting system that votes on weekends and has historically produced on average around 95 percent turnout for federal elections, although the numbers are significantly lower in the rural and indigenous-dominated Northern Territory (around 85 percent). Despite being compulsory, It's still possible to donkey vote or not vote at all (the penalty is a relatively nominal fine and you can be exempted for a range of reasons, including in my case an "all-day orchestra rehearsal"), so there is very little concern over governmental coercion even on the right. Quite the opposite, in fact - from my experience it's largely considered a civic responsibility akin to paying taxes and following speeding regulations. We also have an alternate vote system similar to what was recently proposed and rejected in the United Kingdom, which while not as directly representative as multi-member proportional systems, does provide more opportunity for third-party challenges without the Nader-esque problems of first-past-the-post (as seen with the significant upswing in Green votes in 2010).

-- RohanGrey - 25 May 2012