The proposal would formalise a moral duty to participate in elections. Election Day would become a holiday - whereas voting currently takes place during the week while many people are at work - and citizens could face a small fine of $US20 ($29) for not voting.

Registration and voting would also be made easier through early or mail-in voting.

As for the tradition election day sausage sizzle?

“We’ve specifically embraced democracy sausages - but we also suggest there be vegan sausages,” said Dionne, who has visited Australia numerous times and attended graduate school with former Labor leader Kim Beazley.

Dionne admits the notion of mandatory voting in the US is ambitious because “it’s not an idea that’s ever been in the American conversation.” But he says universal voting could start at the state and local level, before potentially being adopted nationally.

Loading

“When we talk to people about it, there is a certain scepticism. This is a country where it was hard to get people to wear masks or get vaccinated, so the question is: could we embrace an idea like this?” he said.

“But we already have forms of compulsion: you are compelled to go to serve on juries, for example, or people are compelled to send their kids to school till they’re at least 16. We think this form of compulsion is relatively minor and we view the Australian system, in our iteration of it is, as much more nudge than a hammer.”

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also entered the fray last week, highlighting the rise of “teal” independents and the marginalisation of moderates within his own Liberal party, particularly on the issue of climate change.

Loading

In a speech to the Harvard Club of Washington, Turnbull also talked up Australia’s voting system as fundamental to democracy.

“The combination of independently drawn boundaries and compulsory voting means that more electorates are contestable and, because everyone has to vote, there is no need to take extreme positions to fire up your political base and get them to turn out,” he said.

“This contributes to a more relaxed atmosphere on polling day - complete with the traditional sausage sizzle. Equally a contestable electorate means that if a party does choose to endorse a candidate with extreme views they will be unlikely to hold the seat. So contestability is in everybody’s interests except the incumbents.”

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.