3 ms·

> the right to vote Yeah, but they mess even that up by making it obligatory. :)

• tacticus 8y ago
  You have to go. you don't have to pick. Makes it difficult for states to disenfranchise people through budget cuts.
  • chii 8y ago
    By the time and effort spent going to vote, I bet nobody will just cast a null vote. Compulsory voting is more democratic. The USA should make voting compulsory! Ditto with the brexit referendum! If only they made it compulsory, brexit would have probably not passed (presumably many people just didn't expect brexit to win, and so didn't bother going to vote).
    • aesthethiccs 8y ago
      > I bet nobody will just cast a null vote. Have you heard of the term donkey voting? null votes in Australia are about 5% of total votes (federally) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-04/informal-votes-to-have-impact-on-election-result-in-close-seats/7566232 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-04/informal-votes-to-hav... Also it's only sorta compulsory in a sense, you can just never register and never have to vote. but if you do register you will get fined if you don't vote. the amount of unregistered voters is about 4% of the population. so at it's worst it's atleast more representative then some other democracies.
• satori99 8y ago
  Involuntary voting means that religious and other special interest groups cannot easily use their organizations to out-vote the more apathetic citizens. And therefore serious parties must target the center, or close to it, with policy. I see this as an advantage of compulsory voting over other systems. Especially when voting is quick and painless, usually taking no more than 10 or 20 mins on a weekend every three years or so.