Um... because that person might actually lose their job or a significant portion of their income in order to "express their opinion". In many places lines were several hours long. If you're a hourly employee working retail, there is no guarantee or protection that your boss must give you time off to wait in line to vote. Or must pay you for that time because the election system can't get their act together and ensure everyone can do it in anywhere near 15 minutes.

As a resident of OR, where all votes are done by mail, I am baffled why the entire country doesn't vote by mail. If that were the case, I'd predict at least a 5% jump in activity:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/2012/1106/Voter-turno...