At the country level, we find a positive but insignificant relationship between political rights and life satisfaction. We also find that countries where is enforced compulsory voting have a lower level of average national happiness. At the individual level, we find evidence in one survey-but not in another-that voting is associated with higher life satisfaction. Evidence from Costa Rican survey data makes us think that-insofar as the relationship exists-the causal arrow runs from happiness to voting, however. We also find some evidence that attending town hall meetings is associated with higher life satisfaction, where as signing petitions or protesting is associated with lower life satisfaction