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-- Would you consider compulsory voting undemocratic?

Would you consider compulsory voting undemocratic?

The only thing I have against the democratic process in Australia is it's compulsory voting.

As far as I'm concerned, forcing people to choose is an infringement of their civil and democratic rights.

Do any of you have to put up with this shit in Europe?

And besides, the government has no right to make me get off my ass and drive two and a half minutes to scribble on a piece of paper. What do they think I am? Not lazy?!

Unless its in your consitution, I'd say yes, its undemocratic.

Compulsory voting is a good thing.. If we have non-compulsory voting we lose the opinions of many differing socio-economic classes and entire geographic regions.. In the end we'd be bound to end up voting in fuckpoles like Bush.

Besides you dont techinically have to vote in australia.. just get your name ticked off and walk out.. or you could just say that you're a Jehovah's Witness, and you dont even have to rock up at all (as voting is against their religion and the govt cant do shit about that)

I don't even think the average person who wouldn't bother voting should be allowed to vote, much less encouraged or compelled to.

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Originally posted by Arbiter I don't even think the average person who wouldn't bother voting should be allowed to vote, much less encouraged or compelled to.

[In a less harsh way ] This is the reason why I'm against compulsory voting here in Brazil.

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Originally posted by Yoepus Unless its in your consitution, I'd say yes, its undemocratic.

why would it matter if its in the constitution or not? :S

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Originally posted by Arbiter I don't even think the average person who wouldn't bother voting should be allowed to vote, much less encouraged or compelled to.

i so agree...

Re: Would you consider compulsory voting undemocratic?

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Originally posted by Illusion The only thing I have against the democratic process in Australia is it's compulsory voting.

what happens if you don't vote?

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Originally posted by St_Andrew why would it matter if its in the constitution or not? :S

political theory.

Re: Re: Would you consider compulsory voting undemocratic?

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Originally posted by igottaknow what happens if you don't vote?

Probably you lose your most of your civil rights (that's what happens here).

Re: Re: Would you consider compulsory voting undemocratic?

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Originally posted by igottaknow what happens if you don't vote?

We dont lose any civil rights here.. we only get fined $50 (about $US60)

Re: Would you consider compulsory voting undemocratic?

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Originally posted by Illusion The only thing I have against the democratic process in Australia is it's compulsory voting. As far as I'm concerned, forcing people to choose is an infringement of their civil and democratic rights. Do any of you have to put up with this shit in Europe? And besides, the government has no right to make me get off my ass and drive two and a half minutes to scribble on a piece of paper. What do they think I am? Not lazy?!

no, because if everyone didnt vote, the results wouldnt really be representative of the entire nation. youde have certain lobby groups coming out and voting for their own agenda. while u sit at home angry over being forced to help your nation choose its leadership, some lobby group u dont like turns out in the hundreds, maybe thousands depending on its size and influencing their viewpoints upon you as a result of their voting.

Re: Re: Re: Would you consider compulsory voting undemocratic?

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Originally posted by Lira Probably you lose your most of your civil rights (that's what happens here).

Exactly what civil rights do you lose?

Re: Re: Would you consider compulsory voting undemocratic?

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Originally posted by ::TranceVanDyk:: no, because if everyone didnt vote, the results wouldnt really be representative of the entire nation. youde have certain lobby groups coming out and voting for their own agenda. while u sit at home angry over being forced to help your nation choose its leadership, some lobby group u dont like turns out in the hundreds, maybe thousands depending on its size and influencing their viewpoints upon you as a result of their voting.

as a disclaimer to begin with I have voted in every election since I was 18.


Please, in the US non-voting is considered by some (not most) to be a form of free speech. If, for example, we used compulser voting in our last election you would have been forcing people to vote for one of the major candidates (neither of which should have won), vote for a third party candidate (most of who are one dimensional and wierd), or abstained (which is pointless). The problem with forcing people to chose one of these choices is that it lends a false sense of legetimacy to the process. The government and leaders of the winning party would claim that "the people have spoken" when in fact many of the people would rather not have their days inconvenieced with the illusion of choice.

Re: Re: Re: Would you consider compulsory voting undemocratic?

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Originally posted by CyberneticAngel The problem with forcing people to chose one of these choices is that it lends a false sense of legetimacy to the process. The government and leaders of the winning party would claim that "the people have spoken" when in fact many of the people would rather not have their days inconvenieced with the illusion of choice.

That's right. People should have the option of rejecting the whole system as well as the choice of the various political parties.

And there is a great number of people including starving students and the elderly who can't affort that $50 fine.

But I guess it's no big deal since you can always put blank votes in like I always do(Until they remove the mandatory voting law).

It's the idea though. You can't force people into the democratic process. It's very undemocratic.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Would you consider compulsory voting undemocratic?

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Originally posted by St_Andrew Exactly what civil rights do you lose?

You can't have bank accounts, you can't have some jobs and I'm not sure whether you (or your children) can study in public institutions... I know you get in loads of trouble for not having a very important document we have here that basically, tells the government you're an existing person.

Oh, yeah, there's the fine too.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Would you consider compulsory voting undemocratic?

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Originally posted by Lira You can't have bank accounts, you can't have some jobs and I'm not sure whether you (or your children) can study in public institutions... I know you get in loads of trouble for not having a very important document we have here that basically, tells the government you're an existing person. Oh, yeah, there's the fine too.

wow that is stupid... what if you get seriously ill on election day or something? 4 years (or however long mandate periods you have) of missery?

I think so. Democracy brings not only the right to vote, but the right to not vote.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Would you consider compulsory voting undemocratic?

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Originally posted by St_Andrew wow that is stupid... what if you get seriously ill on election day or something? 4 years (or however long mandate periods you have) of missery?

There are forms you can fill out telling the government why you didn't show up.

Just checked... you can't work in public institutions (or study, for that matter) and you can't have bank accounts, for example.

Yet we have the world's most modern voting system*... go figure





* We were the first country to use electronic ballots.

I would consider compulsory voting undemocratic here... Forcing anyone to express a political view is unconstitutional . And what if you do not support any of the candidates? Why be forced to take sides when all sides are against you?

Also, why allow people that are ignorant of the issues vote on canditates they know little to nothing about?

Plus, if a smaller amount of people vote, my vote is that much more important

this reminds me a recent South Park episode actually.... when they had elections for the school mascot...

Absolutely you should have the right not to vote in a democracy. I'd 2nd the point made about false legitimacy and the concept of making a political statement by protesting. Plus look at the amount of time that Bush & Kerry had to spend trying to bring people into their camp who didn't vote in the previous election. They should not get those votes based on a requirement by law.

The argument made for compulsory voting in Australia is that our population is too small to risk having significant amounts of people not turn up on election day, but I'm not sure that's really a valid reason. New Zealand, for instance, is a much smaller country than Australia (about a quarter of the population, if that) and yet they don't have compulsory voting and still get participation rates of 80%+ every time. Australians and New Zealanders are obviously fairly similar people, so I see no reason why a voluntary voting system would be a threat to Australian democracy.

Besides, compulsory voting is inherently undemocratic because it forces individuals to vote for people they would otherwise have no interest in voting for. There's only one party down here whose stance I even vaguely agree with (the Australian Democrats) and - due to our preferential voting system - I find myself ordering the rest of the parties from those that make me feel least nauseous to the most nauseous (the final spot usually reserved for the Liberal Party, but it went to the Family First Party this year). If the Democrats weren't contesting my seat or the senate, I probably wouldn't have any inclination to turn up at all if it wasn't the likelihood of getting fined.

The fact is, though, that elections down here (as in most other parts of the world) are usually decided by just a few percentage points. If 20% of the population, say (based on the New Zealand rates) are only voting because they have to, then - ultimately - they are having a major say in the final outcome of the election. Is that really democratic? I don't think so:

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Originally posted by Arbiter I don't even think the average person who wouldn't bother voting should be allowed to vote, much less encouraged or compelled to.

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