US President Barack Obama says America should follow Australia's lead and introduce compulsory voting.
In last year's midterm elections, when Obama's rival Republican Party took control of Congress, there was just a 36.3 per cent voter turnout - the lowest in 72 years.
At Los Angeles' municipal elections this month, less than 10 per cent of registered voters bothered to cast a ballot.
Obama, speaking at a town hall meeting in Cleveland on Wednesday, cited Australia and its compulsory voting.
"In Australia and some other countries, there is mandatory voting," the president told the gathering.
"It would be transformative if everybody voted."
Obama raised the issue while discussing ways to curb the influence of money in US politics, following the landmark 2010 Supreme Court ruling that limits on political spending violated free speech.
About $US2.6 billion was spent on the 2012 presidential election, which had a 57.5 per cent voter turnout.
Compulsory voting would counteract the billions spent, Obama said.
It would also likely help Obama's Democratic Party, who traditionally receive the support of younger and minority voters.
In a jab at Republicans, he said "there is a reason some people try to keep them away from the polls".
"If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country because the people who tend not to vote are young," he said.
"They are lower income.
"They are skewed more heavily toward immigrant groups and minority groups."
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