Sometimes officials ask the right question but choose the wrong answer.

In other cases, the premise is flawed, which makes the outcome inevitably poor.

House Bill 2718 falls under the former umbrella. Barely.

In February, Rep. Maurice West II, D-Rockford, introduced the bill he calls the Facilitating Voting By All Eligible Citizens Act. In short, it would make Illinois the first state to have mandatory voting. Sort of.

“Provides that all eligible citizens shall cast a ballot in every general election. Provides that an eligible citizen who casts a blank ballot in a general election shall satisfy the requirement. Provides that no fine, fee or penalty shall be assessed if an eligible citizen does not cast a ballot in a general election.”

The bill text doesn’t stipulate who is considered eligible, but there are clues.

“While precise data does not exist, there are likely fewer than 10 million citizens who are eligible to vote in Illinois. Of those eligible voters, approximately 8.1 million are registered to vote and approximately 5.7 million cast a ballot in the 2024 general election.”

Reading between the legislative lines, enforcing the law would mean the 1.9 million unregistered voters would be deemed eligible voters. And then all 10 million of us would have to cast a ballot. But you could leave yours blank. And if you don’t, there’s no penalty.

It might seem odd for someone who routinely – perhaps excessively – advocates for readers to become informed, active voters to push back on a plan that would guarantee increased (if not complete) turnout and participation. But consider the wisdom of Rep. Patrick Windhorst, R-Metropolis, who spoke this week during a House Ethics and Elections Committee hearing:

“Part of our electoral process and part of being a free people is the right not to engage. We have the freedom of speech. We also have the freedom not to speak.”

While that last sentence is great advice for anyone with a social media account, the entire thought is essential: Voting is a regulated privilege. The case law against forced participation is well established, which leads back to whether this premise is flawed.

At the same hearing, West asked, “What can we do as a state to foster greater and more consistent participation in the Democratic process?”

Candidates should be motivated to increase turnout. But for elected officials, there are myriad better tweaks to enhance participation: reimagined primary process, campaign finance reform, nonpartisan district maps and easier ballot access for alternative parties and citizen referendum. But those and other changes mean the established political parties would have to weaken their power

Illinois has made registering and voting easier. What we need are candidates who give people reasons to participate.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.