Australian required voting (Moved from the Obama muslim thread)

[JivinJeffJones]

Originally Posted by Sunshine

Agh. I need to go do tons of research on the candidates so I can figure out who I'm gonna vote for.

Dude, you don't even need to vote. They force us to vote in this country. Compulsory voting. Is it just me or is that fucked up?

[Sunshine]

Originally Posted by JivinJeffJones

Dude, you don't even need to vote. They force us to vote in this country. Compulsory voting. Is it just me or is that fucked up?

Really? In Australia? I didn't know. Haha I guess it is a bit effed up...I can see where they're coming from but I bet it's annoying...kinda like they violated ur rights a lil.

They don't force you to vote for specific people though, right? You still get to choose, right?

Originally Posted by AvereX

Something about the results and promises not aligning

Oh =O

You know...regardless who wins...they're going to look like the best president ever compared to Bush...lol.

[JivinJeffJones]

Originally Posted by Sunshine

Really? In Australia? I didn't know. Haha I guess it is a bit effed up...I can see where they're coming from but I bet it's annoying...kinda like they violated ur rights a lil.

Yeah. "Exercise your freedom and vote for your new government. The choice is all yours. You decide who will run this country. Yours is the power. Do it now or we'll fine your arse." At least it limits the political clout of the elderly. Somewhat.

[JivinJeffJones]

Originally Posted by Alesia

And you are required to vote in Australia or be fined? How much? Gee! That's just to ironical. What in the world?

I dunno how much the fine is. I don't think it's a huge amount. $50 or something. You can get around it by not registering to vote in the first place (which isn't illegal). Sadly, when you reach voting age (18) there's a fair bit of advertising etc advising you to register to vote so pretty much everyone does, thinking they have to. And once you've registered it's compulsory. If only they told 18 yr olds that they have nothing to lose by not registering and nothing to gain except mild inconvenience every 4 years.

I dream of a land where you never have to vote. No say in who is elected to power. What a blessed freedom that would be.

[Victor]

Originally Posted by JivinJeffJones

Dude, you don't even need to vote. They force us to vote in this country. Compulsory voting. Is it just me or is that fucked up?

It might be an idea to learn about the Electoral Act in Australia.

Australians are not compelled to vote. But we are compelled to attend the voting station. Whether you vote or not is up to you.

And our Electoral Act is very popular in Australia. It has been popular for well over 100 years and on both sides of Parliament.

We take our democratic duty seriously. We take our democracy seriously. We defend it when attacked. And vote in elections.

And the compulsion to attend the voting station is no more than an encouragement.

For instance, twice I have failed to attend the voting station. And on each occasion I wrote to the Electoral Commission saying I was indisposed. And I heard no more of it.

In fact our election days are more like large low-key celebrations. Everyone attends. Everyone is good humoured. And almost all of the electorate vote.

And we are the sixth oldest democracy in the world.

And we invented the Secret Ballot. In other parts of the world it is called the Australian Ballot.

We are doing alright.

[pure_mercury]

Originally Posted by Victor

It might be an idea to learn about the Electoral Act in Australia.

Australians are not compelled to vote. But we are compelled to attend the voting station. Whether you vote or not is up to you.

And our Electoral Act is very popular in Australia. It has been popular for well over 100 years and on both sides of Parliament.

We take our democratic duty seriously. We take our democracy seriously. We defend it when attacked. And vote in elections.

And the compulsion to attend the voting station is no more than an encouragement.

For instance, twice I have failed to attend the voting station. And on each occasion I wrote to the Electoral Commission saying I was indisposed. And I heard no more of it.

In fact our election days are more like large low-key celebrations. Everyone attends. Everyone is good humoured. And almost all of the electorate vote.

And we are the sixth oldest democracy in the world.

And we invented the Secret Ballot. In other parts of the world it is called the Australian Ballot.

We are doing alright.

I find that law horrific.

[Victor]

Originally Posted by pure_mercury

I find that law horrific.

We can change this law whenever we want to. But we are happy with it and it works well.

What is horrific is that so few of you vote. Democracy means so little there that vast swathes of people don't even bother to vote.

You should take us as your role model.

[Lateralus]

Originally Posted by JivinJeffJones

Dude, you don't even need to vote. They force us to vote in this country. Compulsory voting. Is it just me or is that fucked up?

I don't like it. I would actually prefer to see the US go in another direction.

We should give voters a test before they're allowed to cast their ballot. I'm not talking about an IQ test, either. I'd like to see a series of multiple choice questions regarding the stance of each major candidate on a few relevant issues. The questions should be the same for each candidate, with the candidates creating their own answers. The test shouldn't be very difficult. The point is for the voter to demonstrate at least some understanding of the issues (ie. they're not voting because someone is cute, cool, etc). If they cannot, then their ballot would be invalid.

Obviously there would be some practical problems that would need to be solved before such a system could be put into place.

[Wolf]

That's brilliant, Lateralus.

Of course, it would be fought viciously by people that stand to lose if voters needed to know who they were voting for.

[JivinJeffJones]

@ Victor.


Okay, I'll take your word for it that we're compelled only to turn up at the voting station. No doubt we would be compelled to vote as well if that didn't require someone to follow us into the ballot-booth to make sure we filled out the form and dropped it in the box.

And plenty of my friends find it an inconvenience to vote. A number were bright enough or lazy enough to not register, and they certainly have no plans to register in the future.

As for it being a "large low-key celebration", maybe a little. But only because everyone is forced to take time out of their day to do it, forced to locate the nearest station. And the idiot party-representatives wave flags, hold balloons, wear badges and hand out recommended voting forms at all the voting stations. Adding a false air of gaiety to the proceedings.

Quite often, I suspect, people have no clue of the positions of any of the candidates involved, since they have no interest in politics. Yet they are still forced to cast their ignorant vote. How does that make sense?