I was in the UK when they had their lowedt voter turnout since World War 2. A couple of months later 9/11 happened and Tony Blair was leading the country into war. All of a sudden a lot of people who hadn't voted were saying "hang on... we're not sure we want this muppet in charge during wartime".

The problem is that not all elections are equally important, and it is easy for the voters to either (a) go to sleep at the wheel or (b) vote themselves more pork.