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The Forum > Article Comments > Voting is a precious right > Comments

Voting is a precious right : Comments

By Klaas Woldring, published 18/10/2007

Compulsory voting does not just mean a duty to attend a polling booth - it also implies a moral duty to cast an informed vote.

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Phanto,

[[[[The reality is that there is no such thing as compulsory voting in Australia]]]]
Eh.....like saying it is not compulsory to obey the speed limit when there is no policeman around.

The legislation states that we must vote, and not simply that we must turn up to a booth.

Furthermore, your intent is deliberately tangential: you are not addressing the issue, but are seeking to support compulsory voting by tangentialising to whether or not it can be enforced anyway.

59 people went to jail in Australia for not voting in the 2nd last Federal election. I doubt any of the 59 would consider voting to be not-compulsory after there overnight stay in a cell.

And your implication is sillyness: you would have us believe that compulsory voting should be allowed to continue because it is somehow a good exercise of our time to show up to a booth.

The mind boggles.
Posted by Liberty, Friday, 19 October 2007 9:19:01 PM
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One good thing about so called compulsory voting is down the track, no one can say they did not vote for anyone. Responsibility for any government being put in place stays with the whole voting population.

We all need to take our voting rights very seriously. The right to vote is not only a priveledge but a obligation.
Posted by Flo, Saturday, 20 October 2007 12:39:30 AM
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The complete sentence from which the title of Klaas' article has been taken reads: "Voting is a precious right that is the basis of democracy but needs to be exercised thoughtfully to be really effective." The sub-title, "Compulsory voting does not just mean a duty to attend a polling booth - it also implies a moral duty to cast an informed vote", seems somehow misleading. Klaas is not advocating compulsory voting at all.

Klaas has made his position quite clear with respect to compulsory voting in a previous OLO article, "Voluntary voting is long overdue", published on 4 April 2007. He opposes it. The 82 comments on that article can be viewed at http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=5679 if your primary focus is that of the rights or wrongs of compulsory voting.

I suggest Klaas may have confused symptom with cause in the real subject of his article, which he sees as being about the dominance of the major parties, the federal structure of government, an allegedly archaic constitution, and functional amateurism of ministries.

Klaas wants change in all these areas. By linking poor performance in governance to the compulsory aspect of voting and its evident unpopularity, perhaps Klaas hopes that the changes he sees as being desirable will be more readily approved by voters at large.

phanto nails it in the ninth post to this thread when he says "Whenever there is no good reason for a law such as compulsory voting it is usually because it is masking some unsavoury agenda". phanto is at the least superficially correct in suggesting that agenda may be a desire by the major parties to maximise their vote. There may be an even more unsavoury explanation: that compulsory voting has provided a believable explanation for routinely high apparent voter turnout in Australian elections ever since its introduction (Federally) in 1924.

What if those apparently high voter turnout levels in truth constitute a reflection of sustained electoral fraud? Such sustained fraud would have operated to degrade genuine representation and competence across the board. Is this not what we see?
Posted by Forrest Gumpp, Saturday, 20 October 2007 8:04:43 AM
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Ludwig

Even if there were changes to the system I would still not want to vote. I do not like any of the candidates so why should I have to go to a polling booth for no reason. I am not going to vote even if I go into a cubicle so what is the point of forcing me to go? What is achieved by it except to show that a government can bully its citizens into attending a certain place at a certain time for no reason?

It is the same for people who do not care. You may think that they should care but they do not and there is no way you can force them to care by making them vote. Caring is something that has to come from within and even if you torture people into voting you will never change their compliance so what is the point? Any government that takes a mandate from forced voting should be ashamed of itself.

“a core principle of democracy should be an obligation for citizens to do certain things and act in certain ways, for the common good.” Sure, but for a good reason. We are all forced to drive on the left side of the road for a good reason and most people agree with that but what is the reason why I should be forced to go to a polling booth when I am not going to do anything when I am there?

“One of the obligations must surely be to have a certain amount of input into how one’s society is run.” This should not be an obligation. How can you enforce it anyway? Even if I mark the ballot paper in exactly the same way as a student of politics how can you tell that my input is considered and studied. If I do not vote I must accept the government we end up with and the consequences of that but you can never force me to consciously choose something I do not want to choose.
Posted by phanto, Saturday, 20 October 2007 8:50:06 AM
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To me it's a given that voting is an important democratic right and that along with this right comes the responsibility to be at least reasonably well informed. As pointed out by Ludwig, the two are not mutually exclusive and actually fit together extremely well. But then again I haven't done a 'tertiary logic and critical thinking' course.

I agree with Shadow Minister that requiring people to vote means we end up with a government largely decided by uninterested voters who are easily persuaded by simplistic sound bites. I still consider it the best system though. Optional voting would only increase the volume of advertising and reduce it to even more inane levels. Hip pocket giveaways and political pork barrelling would become the order of the day as the major parties fought just to entice us to the ballot box.

I like the idea of not having to distribute all preferences. I would much prefer not to have to put any sort of mark in the box beside some candidates' names. The simplification involved and the feeling of having more autonomy in the voting process might actually woo back some disaffected voters too. I don't think it would help the minor parties though. Uninterested voters would just vote for the majors and leave it at that.
Posted by Bronwyn, Saturday, 20 October 2007 2:54:41 PM
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It is an important democratic right to vote and everyone in this country has that right. It should be just as important a democratic right to not vote and to not go to the polling booth. The right to make choices that do not impinge on the rights of others is even more fundamental than democratic rights. Even communist countries allow their citizens the right to make these choices. If a democracy has to deny its citizens the right to refrain from voting in order to guarantee its existence then there is something wrong with democracy. Freedom is more important than any democracy and governments who have the welfare of their citizens at heart will want to allow those citizens as many freedoms as possible so long as they do not impinge on the rights of others. Some people may not like the fact that I do not vote but in no way am I denying them any of their rights. I am not trying to deny their rights to vote either.

You can be extremely well informed and still make a choice not to vote – you could even be a lot better informed than many people who do vote.

Optional voting may well bring about more advertising and other annoying consequences but this is not a good reason to deny many people the fundamental right to not vote.
Posted by phanto, Saturday, 20 October 2007 6:06:26 PM
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