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Coming from Australia where we have mandatory voting, you're missing one of the biggest benefits. When people are forced to vote, the parties HAVE to accommoda
by bobbles 10y ago
Coming from Australia where we have mandatory voting, you're missing one of the biggest benefits.
When people are forced to vote, the parties HAVE to accommodate that not only their 'die hard fans' are going to get them through the election.
It leads to far less extremist views from the parties, or if they are extremist, they often temper some of the points later to ensure they don't have a huge backlash during the election to their policies.
- bigger_cheese 10y agoOne argument I see often made most recently here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-14/why-do-we-have-a-two-party-preferred-system/7413578 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-14/why-do-we-have-a-two-p... is compulsory voting in Australia entrenches the dominance of Labor and the Coalition (the two established parties). However given the non-compulsory US political system is also dominated by two parties I'm not sure how true the argument is.
- ACow_Adonis 10y agoAs an Australian, compulsory voting is widely accepted and touted here as a good thing, so even questioning the rhetoric surrounding it is likely going to get you mobbed, even if you try to preface with the statement that you don't necessarily think it's bad, you just aren't convinced it's necessarily or demonstrably good. But I'm not certain that it's connected in any way to less "extreme" policies in any empirical way beyond such reasoning being a local culturally embedded myth. Of course, there's no definition of what an extreme position is, because middle, left and right themselves have no objective meaning. And for the non-Australians, just do a Google Search for "Pacific Solution" and judge for yourselves how full of shit we may/may not be...
- abfan1127 10y agohow do they make it mandatory? Is there a voting police?
- lobster_johnson 10y agoIf you don't vote, you're fined. Presumably the government has a national registry of every citizen. If it's anything like my home country, then you're also obligated to keep the government informed of your current address at all times.
- davekinkead 10y agoThe AEC manages the federal election roll. Enrolling is technically compulsory for all citizens but only seems to be enforceable once you are on the roll. Failure to get your named crossed of a a voting booth (voting isn't compulsory - turning up is) results in a $50 fine. http://www.aec.gov.au/ http://www.aec.gov.au/