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As an Australian living in America for 10 years you absolutely nailed it; compulsory voting effectively prevents what is the worst part of American democracy -

As an Australian living in America for 10 years you absolutely nailed it; compulsory voting effectively prevents what is the worst part of American democracy - the unceasing efforts to stop people voting . Plenty of other bs, but at least the right to participate is guaranteed.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> compulsory voting effectively prevents what is the worst part of American democracy - the unceasing efforts to stop people voting No, it doesn't; sloppy, deliberately overbroad purges of voter rolls (without notification of the targets) are a key voter suppression technique, and are not at all impaired by compulsory voting.
- deleted 5y ago
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- dalyons 5y ago
  Are you Australian? I’m asking because I’m not aware of of that(very American) tactic being employed in Australia. Imho the requirement of voting moves the window of what’s acceptable in terms of voter rolls - I can’t think of one time I’ve heard of purging being employed inappropriately in aus. And I can’t really imagine a party getting away with it. I could of course just be blissfully unaware, and it actually occurs all the time.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    I am American, and I was reading “compulsory voting effectively prevents what is the worst part of American democracy - the unceasing efforts to stop people voting” as a claim that, applied where those efforts occur, compulsory voting would be an effective and adequate remedy, rather than “In Australia, compulsory voting exists and the efforts seen to suppress voting seen in America do not”. AFAIK (which, I’ll admit, isn’t very far—my knowledge of domestic Australian politics is more of a very light random smattering than the result of any focussed study), you are correct that those don't tend to occur in Australia.
    - dalyons 5y ago
      I understand your point now, thanks! I agree somewhat; if all you changed tomorrow in the USA was to make voting compulsory, you would immediately see redoubled efforts in purging rolls etc. I agree I probably overstated, there would still be ways to stop people voting. Although it cuts out many many avenues, so you would imagine(hope?) the overall disenfranchisement would be significantly less, and decrease over time as the attitude of voting entitlement sets in.
softveda 5y ago
They are trying. Bit by bit. We can pre-poll in Australia from almost a month back, this is getting reduced to just 12 days. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/24/labor-to-back-electoral-reforms-that-could-deregister-dozens-of-minor-parties https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/24/labor...

dragonwriter 5y ago

> compulsory voting effectively prevents what is the worst part of American democracy - the unceasing efforts to stop people voting No, it doesn't; sloppy, deliberately overbroad purges of voter rolls (without notification of the targets) are a key voter suppression technique, and are not at all impaired by compulsory voting.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
dalyons 5y ago
Are you Australian? I’m asking because I’m not aware of of that(very American) tactic being employed in Australia. Imho the requirement of voting moves the window of what’s acceptable in terms of voter rolls - I can’t think of one time I’ve heard of purging being employed inappropriately in aus. And I can’t really imagine a party getting away with it. I could of course just be blissfully unaware, and it actually occurs all the time.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  I am American, and I was reading “compulsory voting effectively prevents what is the worst part of American democracy - the unceasing efforts to stop people voting” as a claim that, applied where those efforts occur, compulsory voting would be an effective and adequate remedy, rather than “In Australia, compulsory voting exists and the efforts seen to suppress voting seen in America do not”. AFAIK (which, I’ll admit, isn’t very far—my knowledge of domestic Australian politics is more of a very light random smattering than the result of any focussed study), you are correct that those don't tend to occur in Australia.
  - dalyons 5y ago
    I understand your point now, thanks! I agree somewhat; if all you changed tomorrow in the USA was to make voting compulsory, you would immediately see redoubled efforts in purging rolls etc. I agree I probably overstated, there would still be ways to stop people voting. Although it cuts out many many avenues, so you would imagine(hope?) the overall disenfranchisement would be significantly less, and decrease over time as the attitude of voting entitlement sets in.

softveda 5y ago

They are trying. Bit by bit. We can pre-poll in Australia from almost a month back, this is getting reduced to just 12 days. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/24/labor-to-back-electoral-reforms-that-could-deregister-dozens-of-minor-parties https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/24/labor...