There is something to be said for America being the freest of the free lands. Especially when you read this paragraph at the very end of an article about the Australian elections:
Participating in elections is compulsory under Australian law and more than 13.5 million people were expected to vote.
Yes, voting is compuslory in Australia. Why?
Compulsory voting was introduced in 1924 [3]. The immediate impetus for compulsory voting at federal level was the low voter turnout (59.38%) [1] in the federal elections of 1922. Voting is compulsory both at federal elections and at elections for the state and territory legislatures. In some states voting at municipal elections is also compulsory. About 5% of enrolled voters fail to vote at most elections. People in this situation are asked to explain their failure to vote. If no satisfactory reason is provided (for example, illness or religious prohibition), a relatively small fine is imposed ($20-$70)[4] , and failure to pay the fine may result in a court hearing.
So how do you refuse to vote? You put a blank piece of paper in the box.
I would say, “God save us from the idiocies of compulsory voting,” but it isn’t God who would save us. It is the American traditions and ideals. I really love our “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do!” attitude, and I hope that it prevents our nation from becoming the nanny-staters that Europe has become, and that Australia apparently doesn’t have a problem with.
One of the things that comes of being a democracy is allowing your people to decide whether or not they’re going to vote. You can’t force people to think the way you want. You would think that Australia would get a clue. Eighty-three years of compulsory voting… damn. I’d probably not vote every year just for the principle of the thing.
“So how do you refuse to vote? You put a blank piece of paper in the box.”
Which becomes a vote for whoever the nice folks running the polling station happen to support. Thus the “don’t care” vote ends up in favor of the candidate with the most militant supporters.
When I lived in Sydney they used to send me letters demanding that I account for myself — why was no one at this address voting? I threw them away. Come and get me, coppers! They never did.
As I recall, you don’t actually have to vote, you just have to turn up and sign the register.
I told one Australian fellow that I was appalled that voting was compulsory. He was appalled that we didn’t do it. Why…why…that would mean that only people who gave a damn would decide the election! Blasphemy! I never figured that one out.
It simply boggles my mind that the Europeans are so ready to give up their rights and choices without a fight.
But then I remember: Millennia of kowtowing to kings and other titled powermongers have beaten the spirit out of the Euros. Australia never threw off the shackles of monarchy, nor did Canada. The only nation in the world that escaped the British Empire by armed revolution is the only nation in the world that refuses to allow rule by dynasty.
Which is one reason I will not vote for Clinton. I think we’ve had enough of the Clintons and the Bushes. Time for some new blood in the presidency.
Well, plus, I’d never vote for Hillary no matter what her last name was, but that’s a long laundry list of whys and wherefores. (Crook, liar, crook, crook, liar, liar, etc. Plus nanny-stater.)
With no power comes no responsibility. For many people, crushing oppression is a small price to pay for never being expected to make any effort to improve anything.
I find it really strange that compulsory voting is seen by many Americans as some sort of anti-freedom state oppression. I’m actually fairly indifferent whether we have it or not, but its no big thing. Its 5 minutes effort every few years … hardly a huge imposition.
We accept some obligations on the basis that they are for the common good, for example, wearing seat belts in cars, not drink driving, not driving at excessive speed, not letting any and every nutjob in the country have access to lethal weaponry, etc. These are just commonsense things we accept for the good of society. Hardly unreasonable impositions on our freedoms!
Ian, perhaps you should have stopped at your first sentence. If you can’t tell the difference between being compelled to vote, and voting because you want to, then no, you don’t understand the American concept of freedom.
The imposition is the least of the issue. The issue is that voting is a right and an obligation. But when you make it compulsory, you have negated the entire purpose behind voting. Voting is a choice. When it is no longer a choice, it is no longer free.