Australian Politics Forum - Detrimental effects of compulsory voting

Sprintcyclist Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 41309 Gender:	Detrimental effects of compulsory voting Jan 25^th, 2016 at 1:04pm 1/ People with no political interest or knowledge vote. 2/ People vote by tradition rather than who is best. eg "My grandpappy always used to vote labour, so I do.' 3/ It costs more.
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Fuzzball Gold Member Offline Posts: 6384 Australia Gender:	Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting Reply #1 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 1:23pm Not forgetting that it's undemocratic.
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greggerypeccary Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 150621 Gender:	Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting Reply #2 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 1:44pm Sprintcyclist wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 1:04pm: 1/ People with no political interest or knowledge vote. The worst of those probably cast an informal vote. It is a worry, though. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/11/12/australias-rate-informal-votes-hig...
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... Gold Member Offline Posts: 23673 WA Gender:	Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting Reply #3 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 2:30pm It was not introduced to be fair, it was introduced to make change difficult. Straight out of the dictators handbook:
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Armchair_Politician

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Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting
Reply #4 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:03pm

Fuzzball wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 1:23pm:

Not forgetting that it's undemocratic.

No it's not. Furthermore, do you know how many people living under undemocratic rule would give their right arm to be able to cast a vote? We're lucky we have that right. Is it really that much of an obligation to be asked to tick a few boxes on some paper every few years? Poor petal!

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Its time

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Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting
Reply #5 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:06pm

Armchair_Politician wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:03pm:

Fuzzball wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 1:23pm:

Not forgetting that it's undemocratic.

No it's not. Furthermore, do you know how many people living under undemocratic rule would give their right arm to be able to cast a vote? We're lucky we have that right. Is it really that much of an obligation to be asked to tick a few boxes on some paper every few years? Poor petal!

I cant remember the figures but there was a lot of no shows and donkey votes last elecrion , unsurprising given what was available

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Armchair_Politician

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Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting
Reply #6 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:07pm

Its time wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:06pm:

Armchair_Politician wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:03pm:

Fuzzball wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 1:23pm:

Not forgetting that it's undemocratic.

No it's not. Furthermore, do you know how many people living under undemocratic rule would give their right arm to be able to cast a vote? We're lucky we have that right. Is it really that much of an obligation to be asked to tick a few boxes on some paper every few years? Poor petal!

I cant remember the figures but there was a lot of no shows and donkey votes last elecrion , unsurprising given what was available

Then that's their loss because they get no say in shaping this country, which is a shame because I take pride in being able to say my vote counted and I had a say in which direction my country will take. By the way, the figure you're looking for is 5.92% of votes at the 2013 election were marked as "informal" (source: http://electionwatch.edu.au/australia-2013/analysis/informal-voting-rise).

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Its time Gold Member Offline Boot libs out Posts: 25639 Gender:	Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting Reply #7 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:22pm I would be surprised if more than 10% actually had a clue what they were voting for , apathy is rife in this country .
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matty

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Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting
Reply #8 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:23pm

Armchair_Politician wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:03pm:

Fuzzball wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 1:23pm:

Not forgetting that it's undemocratic.

No it's not. Furthermore, do you know how many people living under undemocratic rule would give their right arm to be able to cast a vote? We're lucky we have that right. Is it really that much of an obligation to be asked to tick a few boxes on some paper every few years? Poor petal!

We have the opposite problem here. We're made to vote even if we don't want to do, otherwise you get fined. Why not do as the Americans do and give people the option of whether or not they want to vote?

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Armchair_Politician

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Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting
Reply #9 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:24pm

Its time wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:22pm:

I would be surprised if more than 10% actually had a clue what they were voting for , apathy is rife in this country .

Especially among the Left. They don't care why they vote for Labor other than because they don't like Tony Abbott, for example. Yeah, that's a good reason. Roll Eyes

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Armchair_Politician

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Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting
Reply #10 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:26pm

matty wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:23pm:

Armchair_Politician wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:03pm:

Fuzzball wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 1:23pm:

Not forgetting that it's undemocratic.

No it's not. Furthermore, do you know how many people living under undemocratic rule would give their right arm to be able to cast a vote? We're lucky we have that right. Is it really that much of an obligation to be asked to tick a few boxes on some paper every few years? Poor petal!

We have the opposite problem here. We're made to vote even if we don't want to do, otherwise you get fined. Why not do as the Americans do and give people the option of whether or not they want to vote?

We need to do two things in this country with regard to voting:

1. Move to electronic voting - presto, no more informal votes and no more incidences of voting multiple times. This would also allow for much swifter reporting of the election result and far greater accuracy of the count.

2. Abolish preferences and move to a "first past the post" system.

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Bam Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 21905 Gender:	Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting Reply #11 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:26pm ... wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 2:30pm: It was not introduced to be fair, it was introduced to make change difficult. Incorrect. It was introduced by a conservative government about a century ago to counter the possibility of unions mobilising their members to vote.
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greggerypeccary

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Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting
Reply #12 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:29pm

Its time wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:06pm:

Armchair_Politician wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:03pm:

Fuzzball wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 1:23pm:

Not forgetting that it's undemocratic.

No it's not. Furthermore, do you know how many people living under undemocratic rule would give their right arm to be able to cast a vote? We're lucky we have that right. Is it really that much of an obligation to be asked to tick a few boxes on some paper every few years? Poor petal!

I cant remember the figures but there was a lot of no shows and donkey votes last elecrion , unsurprising given what was available

Informal votes, not donkey votes (they don't keep statistics on the number of donkey votes).

"Last September's total rate of informal votes - 5.91 per cent for the House of Representatives - was the largest in Australia since 1984."

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/11/12/australias-rate-informal-votes-hig...

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Armchair_Politician

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Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting
Reply #13 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:33pm

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:29pm:

Its time wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:06pm:

Armchair_Politician wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:03pm:

Fuzzball wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 1:23pm:

Not forgetting that it's undemocratic.

No it's not. Furthermore, do you know how many people living under undemocratic rule would give their right arm to be able to cast a vote? We're lucky we have that right. Is it really that much of an obligation to be asked to tick a few boxes on some paper every few years? Poor petal!

I cant remember the figures but there was a lot of no shows and donkey votes last elecrion , unsurprising given what was available

Informal votes, not donkey votes (they don't keep statistics on the number of donkey votes).

"Last September's total rate of informal votes - 5.91 per cent for the House of Representatives - was the largest in Australia since 1984."

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/11/12/australias-rate-informal-votes-hig...

Sorry, but you're wrong about the donkey votes. Donkey votes are included in the statistics as informal votes because a donkey vote is classed as an informal vote. How do I know? I was an election scrutineer at the 2013 election. Also, the article in your link says as much: "Blank ballots and those with scribbles, slogans or other protest vote marks were assumed to be intentionally informal."

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matty

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Re: Detrimental effects of compulsory voting
Reply #14 - Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:34pm

Armchair_Politician wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:24pm:

Its time wrote on Jan 25^th, 2016 at 3:22pm:

I would be surprised if more than 10% actually had a clue what they were voting for , apathy is rife in this country .

Especially among the Left. They don't care why they vote for Labor other than because they don't like Tony Abbott, for example. Yeah, that's a good reason. Roll Eyes

I agree, and that is a reason why I think it should be voluntary.

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