A case could be made that those who have not informed themselves on the issues have a patriotic duty to stay away from the polls on Election Day, rather than mess with something that is too important to be decided by ignorance or prejudice.
Ideally, each citizen should both become informed about issues and candidates and go to the polls on Election Day. But the real question is what to do in a world that is seldom ideal.
Even informed voters sometimes have trouble understanding that they can only choose among alternatives actually available. Some voters vote -- or don't vote -- according to whether their elected officials have lived up to all their hopes. Seldom can any officials in a democracy do that.
There have been a number of domestic policy issues on which many conservatives, for example, are disappointed with the Bush administration. But if conservative voters stay home, more liberals will be elected.
That can create an enormous problem, not just for the next few years, but for the next generation. The federal judges confirmed by the senators elected this November will be shaping the law for decades to come.
If conservative voters stay home on Election Day, then the Democrats will retain control of the Senate and the only kinds of judges likely to be confirmed will be those who "interpret" the law to mean whatever they want it to mean, regardless of what it says. The fundamental right of the people to make the laws they live under will be further eroded or destroyed by judges.
In short, the stakes are high enough to make it a citizen's duty to become an informed voter -- the only kind of voter that is needed on Election Day.