The article engages with the renewed scholarly debate on the legal implications of low voter turnout, prompted by the alarming levels of abstentionism recorded in Italy – as in many other democratic systems – in recent years, and highlights the risks of its instrumentalisation. It first shows how high abstention rates may affect the degree of legitimisation of elected bodies, though not their formal legitimacy. The analysis then focuses on the legal significance that should properly be attributed to the constitutional provision prescribing the exercise of voting as a «civic duty», while also clarifying that the constitutional principle of freedom of the vote is not inconsistent with the idea of compulsory participation. Finally, acknowledging that remedies for the pathological condition of representative democracy often lie beyond the domain of law, the study argues that legal measures must nonetheless be sought within the constitutional framework. This framework requires that the exercise of the vote be taken seriously as a duty as well as a right, while at the same time pointing towards gradual, multi-level interventions – beginning with electoral legislation – through a «small steps» approach.