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Why is Australia the only "core anglosphere" country where voting is mandatory? (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago by Lafari@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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[-] TheIvoryTower@lemmy.world 115 points 9 months ago

All the people saying mandatory voting is bad are misinformed. It is essential for democracy, and should be applied everywhere.

Australia has mandatory voter turnout, but you do not need to submit a vote. You just need to show up on polling day.

Everyone has political interests and needs to be politically represented, but some people are too tired after work to take themselves to the polling centre. Others are incarcerated. If anything, those people are more in need of political representatives.

American conservatives spend billions trying to prevent poor overworked people from reaching polling places or exercising their right to vote. Mandatory voting prevents that.

Make no mistake, Australian democracy is healtheir than whatever clusterfuck in going on in the US.

[-] JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world 55 points 9 months ago

Not only that, but Australia's actual ballot is leagues better, too. Ranked ballots are a great way to weaken (unfortunately not eliminate) the two party system, which is unfortunately also the reason the United States will never see anything like it. (At least not in the foreseeable future.)

[-] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 9 months ago

Yeah we do have single member seats in the lower house though which is a completely broken system.

Most of Europe recognises that, our frienemies across the ditch recognise that.

Consensus seeking and coalitions are much more representative forms of government than single member winner takes all seats.

[-] Paradoxvoid@aussie.zone 2 points 9 months ago

Yep, this is why the Senate is much more representative, and why the big parties who control the House of Representatives hate it so much.

[-] Balthazar@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago

Whether mandatory voting is bad or not, certainly it's way better than the American situation, where one particular party's strategy to win elections is to discourage and actively prevent people from voting. In Australia, every political party seeks to win by collecting votes.

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 7 points 9 months ago

Yeah I hate the fact that one party’s strategy is actively invalidating votes for one of the candidates.

[-] tourist@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

I don't pay too much attention to Australian politics, but whenever I see headlines it's always something like "MP literally destroying the barrier reef with his own bare hands" or "Corruption whistleblower sentenced to one thousand years in jail"

[-] vantlem@lemmy.world 18 points 9 months ago

The important thing to note is: Australia has a genuinely solid chance of removing the right-wing nutjobs / spineless centrist two-party system BECAUSE of mandatory voting. Young people in USA have appalling voter turn out. But young people in Australia are seriously turning the tides. See the results by age group for the 2019 election. The boomers are still voting in right-wing nutjobs (Liberal party), most groups have strong centrist representation (Labor), and Gen Z are bringing in a third, non-major, left-aligned party (Greens). It brings so much hope for younger generations and the fact that voting doesn't feel futile.

[-] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 9 months ago

This chart gives me hope.

[-] EurekaStockade@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

Things like "MP approves funding for new hospital" don't make headlines. Even moreso for any world headlines to rise above the din of American politics it usually has to be something pretty outrageous.

[-] AsslessChaps@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 9 months ago

It’s because you do hear about it. We recently had an mp forced to retire because they could control policy over something his mother has shares in.

[-] Paradoxvoid@aussie.zone 3 points 9 months ago

Australia has mandatory voter turnout, but you do not need to submit a vote. You just need to show up on polling day.

So just to clear up a technical misconception here - the wording in the Electoral Act is quite clear. All enrolled electors are legally required to vote. It's only a consequence of the secret ballot that makes this provision unenforceable, so someone can turn up and get their name marked off while not submitting a vote without facing any consequences, but it is technically an illegal act.

If the AEC were to come up with some way to determine that you didn't vote without betraying that secret ballot, they would be within their rights to issue a you a fine.

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[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 29 points 9 months ago

Found this online:

According to the Australian Electoral Commission, the decline in voter turnout was the driving force behind the introduction of mandatory voting. It said that voter turnout dropped from 71 per cent in the 1919 election to less than 60 per cent in the 1922 elections.

In order to address the problem, a private member’s bill to amend the Electoral Act was introduced in the Senate in 1924. At the time, it was only the third private member’s bill to be passed into law since 1901.

As a result of the law, the voter turnout at the 1925 election rose to over 91 per cent.

Gradually, states across the country introduced compulsory voting starting from Victoria in 1926, New South Wales and Tasmania in 1928, Western Australia in 1936 and South Australia in 1942.

When enrollment and voting at federal elections was introduced for Australian Aborigines in 1949 it was voluntary, and continued to be so until 1984 when enrollment and voting became compulsory for all eligible electors.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Oh wow here in America we have party that banks on reducing turnout

[-] Lafari@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

In order words, why is voting mandatory in Australia, but not UK, US, Canada or New Zealand?

[-] spittingimage@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

Maybe it should be mandatory in the US. It would make voter suppression harder, if not impossible.

[-] Lafari@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Follow-up question: If voting is mandatory, but you don't want to vote for any of the parties, what are you expected to do?

[-] Senshi@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

You go to vote and invalidate the ballot. Mark none or all of the boxes or write 'fu' on it. It's not that hard.

[-] Lafari@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Isn't that illegal? I think it's legal in the UK though, someone told me it's tradition to draw a big cross on the whole ballot paper and they actually count no-votes as distinct from non-votes, or something like that.

[-] Senshi@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

How do you think they would verify or sanction an invalid ballot? Given that voting is secret and therefore there's logically no personal information on the ballot, this would be rather tricky - or extremely worrisome for democracy. ;) So no, it's definitely not illegal in any somewhat democratic nation. And yes, most countries do count invalid votes separately. This can be an important indicator that something went wrong. Eg if suddenly all districts report much higher numbers of invalid ballots, something might have gone wrong in the counting process or just the ballot design might be too confusing. Definitely worth looking into, though. And if a single district shows an unusual count of invalid ballots compared to others, that also is worth looking into.

Many that intentionally vote invalid claim to do so to show their frustration with all party options. However, this hurts democracy. Even if do not love or even like any of the parties/candidates, you still should vote.

Vote for the "least of the bad". A vote for a democratic candidate that has a boring mix of policies planned that you don't fully support is still a lot better than anything on the other end of the spectrum, with radical extremists working to undermine society or democracy itself. By voting invalid, your missing vote ends up being "shared" by everyone, and I'm certain there's some on the list that you really don't want to even have the tiniest shred of your vote.

[-] Ringmasterincestuous@aussie.zone 1 points 9 months ago

This issue for me personally is that it’s still a choice between a douche and turd sandwich. I don’t think our political system is anything to write home about.

But to answer this, I have to go to the polling station, get my name marked off a list by some delusional person, go into a booth and hope that someone appreciates the quality of the veiny dick and balls improving over the years when they unwrap the origami that is my ballot paper.

[-] Lafari@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Nice South Park reference! I guess you probably haven't been penalised in any way or you'd know, so you can probably can get away with that. But isn't it technically illegal to not cast a proper vote in Australia? (I think compulsory voting is stupid so I don't blame you btw)

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[-] TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Because FREEDOM!

Eagle screams in the background

ETA: Fires guns "YEEHAW!"

[-] MedicPigBabySaver@sh.itjust.works 10 points 9 months ago

FYI: eagles don't really scream. That fake scream from movies/tv, etc. is from a red tailed hawk.

[-] TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago

I know, but I had to be as stereotypical as possible.

[-] Darkenfolk@dormi.zone 8 points 9 months ago

Not enough guns and yeehaw noises. 3 out of 10.

[-] TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Valid criticism.

[-] alquicksilver@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

That response loses you another point. Should've threatened to bring in the cavalry!

[-] TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

I'm too Canadian for this, sorry!

[-] Skyrmir@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

It's easier to get a recording of a hawk that never shuts up. Eagles let out a screech too, but not often. Try stealing a fish from a bald eagle. Bring a tape recorder...and some bandages.

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this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024

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