4 ms·
This is where I think Australia’s compulsory voting shows its strength. Every citizen has a responsibility to submit a ballot (either valid, invalid, or covere
by ojkelly 4y ago
This is where I think Australia’s compulsory voting shows its strength.
Every citizen has a responsibility to submit a ballot (either valid, invalid, or covered in dicks).
And the state (or in our case an independent electoral commission) has a responsibility to collect a ballot from every voter. Which leads to making it as easy as possible for you to vote, with early voting, mail-in ballots and heaps of polling centres.
The ballot problem is easier than you’d think though. Make effective corruption untenable, by involving a lot of people in the process. Everyone who can gain from the outcome should have equal presence as observers.
And the tangibility of the ballot is crucial, it’s much harder to make 10,000 pieces of paper appear or disappear than to flip a bit.
- smitty1e 4y agoThe secret ballot is also known as the Australian ballot[1] The beauty of casting a ballot in private is that no matter how biased my neighborhood is for Odius Candidate, I can freely vote for Obvious Altruist, no matter the coercion. When everyone is voting at home, ballots might be "helped". Especially if the contest is close. And then there are concerns about ballot tampering. The USPS has lost much, including its reputation. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot