compulsory voting?

Question

australia has it.
who is for it? who is against it?
and why?

Wouldnt mind noing the seppo's (yanks) on this

seppo's a new term popping up all ova OZ, rhyming slang yank=septic tank=seppo

sure if you didnt wanna vote donkey vote around 3 % of the country do this.
and i can understand the choice thing but it is the fairest way to chose a political party for a country. not only this but it means that policy is more likly to be dirrected at a populated majority and note a voting minority

by the way election night in australia is a spectator sport. 3 of the 5 major tv channel in australia covered it. i went to one election party and missed out on 2 others, and you would not call my friends or family political

as for the bell curve theroy who is to say that the bell curve at the moment is not alot worse under this system

Answer 1

I am firmly in favour of voluntary voting- Aus is out of step with most of the world, as places like the UK, Ireland, most of Europe, the USA etc have it.

There are a lot of arguments for and against both sides (nothing is perfect), but at the end of the day, in a REAL democracy we should have the choice of whether or not to vote.

We are now compelled by law to not only attend the booth to have our name crossed off, but now have to accept the ballot slip and are expected to fill it in- all under pain of criminal charges. Although this time round I took the paper, but bypassed the booth- went straight to the ballot box where I ripped them up- and got away with it, which utterly amazed me. Maybe I won't be so lucky next time!

It makes pollies lazy (they know we have to turn up and vote), and actually disempowers those living in 'safe' seats- because campaigns (and those lovely promises of funding) focus only on the marginals. Again, hardly democratic.

Recent High Court decisions make it clear that we must choose between candidates- even if we don't know anything (or little) about them or don't like any of them, or object to them for some personal reason. This is not informed decision making, and forces people to vote based on little to no information (and I hardly call the glossy leaflets filled with promises that won't be kept information!).

Unless people have thought seriously about issues, they shouldn't vote- these are the real donkey votes!

Answer 2

Seppos? That's what you call us? I thought 'Yank' was bad enough. It sounds a little like 'jerk'. 8^)

I think everyone should vote. I always encourage my friends to vote. I don't even tell them how I think they -should- vote. I figure if they vote, and stick around to see how their candidate follows up on his promises, they'll vote more wisely next time. Democracy is not a spectator sport, and our lack of participation is a problem.

But mandatory voting? How does that work in Oz? Most Americans are incredibly ignorant about politics. They vote based on 1-minute TV commercials or mind-numbingly one-sided talk radio. REQUIRING them to vote would mean they'd vote even more stupidly than they do now! I can't imagine it would improve our situation any.

Maybe there should be a test. Which party has lowered your taxes in the last 20 years? Which party really has reduced crime and which party just talks about it? If you flunk you don't vote -and- you pay a fine. 8^)

Answer 3

I used to think that compulsory voting should be outlawed as it is against our right to choose. However, I have since changed my mind.

If voting was not compulsory, it would be the people who find it difficult to vote that would probably be the ones not voting. For example, people with sick children, people in hospital etc. Since it is compulsory - voting booths are everywhere (remote areas, nursing homes, Antartica). I am sure that if it were not compulsory, these would disappear. It also leaves it open to abuse - an employer may not give someone time from work if it is not compulsory.

I do, however, think that when there are advertisements on how to vote - it should be advertised that if you really do not care and don't want to vote - just leave the ballot paper blank. This would stop 'donkey votes' and people voting when they have no idea and really do not care.

By the way, I loved it that you described the Aussie election as a spectator sport - I was glued to the TV for hours (so were the rest of the people at the party!)

Answer 4

Compulsory voting is democratic. It makes sure that everyone's choice is counted. It is a deterrent against fraud and corruption of the electoral system and it is just plain better.

In a democracy there should be no necessity to be of a certain intellectual, financial or social status in order to be allowed to vote. Every person should vote!

In Australia, if it wasn't compulsory, I doubt whether many people would vote at all. If you know you HAVE to vote you are more likely to take an interest and make an informed choice.

No matter what anyone says - if only a small portion of the population vote it cannot be called 'democracy'.

Answer 5

I can't really see this being a good thing. I mean, if you know you haven't been following what's going on, should we really make you vote? You just pick whoever has the best sounding name.

Now, I can see requiring people to either vote or have to come in and sign off saying "I choose not to vote". That would put a stop to lazyness. But people could still make a concious decision not to participate. I haven't totally thought this one through, so I reserve the right to change my mind...

Answer 6

I think people who can pass a test should only be allowed to vote. The fact is in Australia, crudely put, stupid people are allowed to have opinions. This is one major downfall of democracy. It is scary to think that people who don't even have a basic understanding of the electoral system or the Constitution are allowed to have their say on who runs the country. This is why we end up with a leader like Kevin Rudd - the bogans voting on the basis of appearances on Rove and the Kerri-Anne show rather than policies and a proven track record.

Answer 7

Well Chet, I'm another Aussie (in Melbourne) but I wanted to say I think compulsory voting makes our system much more democratic, because the outcome of an election is decided by the vast majority of the people ["demos" - democracy means rule by the people] instead of by a minority as it is in the US and UK.

Also, conservatives like to talk of rights being balanced with responsibilities, and that's okay with me: in Australia, voting is both a right AND a responsibility. (I hold in contempt those who do not bother to vote, or who go along and deliberately vote informally because they didn't take the trouble to find out about the issues and the candidates. We owe it to our children and to the country to inform ourselves politically and vote intelligently.)

Answer 8

I would exercise my democratic privilege to vote regardless.

On the balance of things I'm for compulsory voting.

While there are some negatives it definitely encourages greater political debate in the community. I suspect it's also less prone to manipulation by interest groups.

Swinging voters tend to decide elections and if they weren't compelled many might not vote. Surely you get better outcomes by forcing people to think about the choices rather than by who can be bothered to post a vote.

Answer 9

I agree with compulsory voting.
If you know you have to vote, you take a greater interest in what's going on with the candidates.
Thankfully, we only had to suffer a 6 week election campaign, not the tedious, long drawn out campaign the US has.

My mother (she's in her 80's) tells me that, "Seppo" is not a new term, it was used extensively during the 2nd World War. It went out of fashion after they all went back home.

Answer 10

Because the bell curve shows that a significant number of people are below average IQ, I would say NEVER. I think there should be an IQ test to vote. People should have at least a 90 IQ. Otherwise they are not able to reason, but only able to vote according to who manipulated them.