Side note: While showing up and getting your name marked off on election day is compulsory in Australia, actually voting properly is not. It is perfectly OK (

Side note: While showing up and getting your name marked off on election day is compulsory in Australia, actually voting properly is not. It is perfectly OK (though frowned upon) to get your form and put it straight into the box, which is counted as an "informal" vote, the same as if you had written in the wrong space on the ballot form. The recent election was a very close race between the two major parties, and also had one of the highest % of informal votes in recent history, which is some measure of the unhappiness of voters with the choices they were given.