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The Forum > General Discussion > Compulsory Voting

Compulsory Voting

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Compulsory voting is no where near as bad as preferential voting.

Not only must I vote, but I must then watch it filter down to help elect someone I most definitely do not want.

First past the post is the only fair way of voting. It results in the person that the largest percentage of the population really wanted getting the victory.
Posted by Hasbeen, Tuesday, 5 March 2019 5:28:50 PM
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Joe,

Most countries do not have compulsory voting. Half of those who do don't enforce it, and only 10 of 30 OECD compel people to vote. We are not talking about banana republics. You and many others wouldn't get off your lazy bums if you weren't forced to, and that would be a good thing in my book. Unintelligent voters voting because the have to is the reason why we have low quality politicians. The useless bastards don't have to get out and sell themselves. They drones we get from compulsory voting have nothing to sell, and tney know it.
Posted by ttbn, Tuesday, 5 March 2019 6:25:32 PM
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Hasbeen,

Totally agree with you on preferential voting. That also keeps idiots in, not to mentioned the likes of Phelps who got fewer first preferences than Sharma in Wentworth.
Posted by ttbn, Tuesday, 5 March 2019 6:28:45 PM
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Good ideas all.

Myself I favour compulsory voting at least for now...

Why- I agree that people need to understand civics to use their vote effectively for their own enlightened self interest and that this implies a meritocracy. I agree that many people understand politics only as deep as the biased media- so the media not being democratic can undermine peoples own enlightened self interest. Like the legal system, politics relies on contention between the opposing parties to bring out the truth- but it doesn't always work- especially when there are more than two sides- and the major ones are Locke Liberalist.

There are fundamental issues with official power...

Someone who have power will always try to use it to benefit themselves even those with official power. There will be a market for influencing those with power so those that have power get stronger. But there is a link between those with power and those that are capable- every society needs capable people. One of the best ways to get people to put their hearts into their jobs is to link it to their self interest- but how... There are examples in history- most (probably all) of them have limitations. I prefer a balance more in favour of local forms of power as they are less influential. If there is no definition or limitation on power it will always expand.

On preferential voting...

I'm a supporter but I don't follow voting cards and choose my own preferences and number all the boxes- I look at my first 5 and my worst 5 allocate them accordingly then fill in the middle. Admittedly I spend about 20mins in the voting cubical- and double check everything- I also do a fair bit of research on the candidates on the AEC website before I attend the voting centre.

Without preferential voting minor parties couldn't survive.

Preferential voting perhaps enables a smoother more stable transition of changes in public thought into the political sphere.
Posted by Canem Malum, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 3:55:31 AM
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I can understand the feeling of the intelligent capable that they feel they are hostage to the dumb incapable. This seems to be the reason for the meritocracy solution.

A partial solution might be to give everyone a piece of land to live or die on- industrialism often doesn't require large pieces of land but good technology- with technology businesses don't need as many people either- but they need many customers and large growth markets to support ongoing business viability- but there are too many people in the world.

If businesses need many customers but not workers there is a problem with the economic industrial system. One solution might involve business outputs that have longer lifespans- but this means lower business profits- but they can do more with the money
Posted by Canem Malum, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 3:56:13 AM
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I think compulsory voting is needed but it should also be compulsory that the voters can prove their understanding of who to vote for. We need to introduce voting licenses & the Constitution needs to be taught in schools. Not teaching the Constitution has given rise to the insipid Left.
What could stop this federal Govt from imposing this requirement ?
Posted by individual, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 5:59:42 AM
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