

Want an Easy Life? Try Canberra, Australia - danieltillett
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/upshot/want-an-easy-life-try-canberra-australia.html

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danieltillett
I posted this just because I wanted to have a rant about the claim in the
article that Australia has compulsory voting. Australia does not have
compulsory voting - it has compulsory visiting of the polling station (well a
$100 fine if you don’t) on election day. You don’t have to vote, you just need
to get you name crossed off the list and you can then walk straight out if you
don’t want to vote.

I do think that Australia has one of the best electoral systems in the western
world. The combination of “compulsory” voting and instant run off polling is a
really good combination. The only problem (as in many countries) is most of
the candidates on offer are pretty poor, but you can always find a candidate
to support without throwing away your vote (in the last national election
voted for Julian Assange and gave my second preference to my least hated
mainstream candidate).

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pedalpete
Australia's version of compulsory voting may as well be considered well....
compulsory.

In other countries you can't even get people to the poles. How many
Australians do you think get to the poles and just don't vote. You said so
yourself, you were there, and you voted because you were there.

Doesn't mean the decisions made are any better, or that the candidates are any
good, but just forcing people to show up means they are somewhat more engaged
than in other countries.

Since moving to Australia, I've noticed that Australians seem more interested
in politics than people in my home country of Canada.

~~~
danieltillett
>How many Australians do you think get to the poles and just don't vote.

Actually a pretty high percentage. The number of spoiled ballots or “donkey”
votes is high (over 10%).

>You said so yourself, you were there, and you voted because you were there.

I actually didn’t say that. I would have voted even without the threat of a
fine. For me the most important thing is the preferential voting (instant run-
off) that allowed me to vote for a candidate that had no chance of winning
without wasting it.

