I would like to take this opportunity...
Nov. 7th, 2012 07:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
highlyeccentricTo express my love of compulsory voting.
You citizen? YOU VOTE. Or we fine you a small amount of money. You can hand your form in blank or draw butts all over it if you like, but you hand the damn form in.
Positive consequences of this system:
- voting on Saturdays, when more people are free to do so
- everyone recognises the government and general public responsibility to ensure that everyone has access to voting systems. We're not perfect at implementing that (see also: ratio of wheelchair-accessible to other polling places; low registration rates of rural indigenous people) but, y'know, if you're going to fine people for not voting you assume its your job to make it possible for them to do so
- on a similar note, more efficient absentee voting systems
- comparatively less time and money spent convincing people to vote at all (we spend some time and money educating people on how to register, where and when to vote, but we don't have to whip up voter enthusiasm JUST TO GET PEOPLE TO THE POLLS). People trudge down there, ignore the spruikers, and write something on a form. Lo, democracy!
- 'voter fraud' isn't really a thing. Insofar as it might happen, it consists of people voting in multiple places: it's not possible to whip up fear of people voting who shouldn't vote, because EVERYONE DAMN WELL VOTES
TL;DR, compulsory voting, I like it. I would endorse it for more institutions (eg: student unions! I never vote in union elections, even though I should. If my ACCESS card were to be disabled if I didn't vote, I'd damn well vote. I might even form an opinion).
You citizen? YOU VOTE. Or we fine you a small amount of money. You can hand your form in blank or draw butts all over it if you like, but you hand the damn form in.
Positive consequences of this system:
- voting on Saturdays, when more people are free to do so
- everyone recognises the government and general public responsibility to ensure that everyone has access to voting systems. We're not perfect at implementing that (see also: ratio of wheelchair-accessible to other polling places; low registration rates of rural indigenous people) but, y'know, if you're going to fine people for not voting you assume its your job to make it possible for them to do so
- on a similar note, more efficient absentee voting systems
- comparatively less time and money spent convincing people to vote at all (we spend some time and money educating people on how to register, where and when to vote, but we don't have to whip up voter enthusiasm JUST TO GET PEOPLE TO THE POLLS). People trudge down there, ignore the spruikers, and write something on a form. Lo, democracy!
- 'voter fraud' isn't really a thing. Insofar as it might happen, it consists of people voting in multiple places: it's not possible to whip up fear of people voting who shouldn't vote, because EVERYONE DAMN WELL VOTES
TL;DR, compulsory voting, I like it. I would endorse it for more institutions (eg: student unions! I never vote in union elections, even though I should. If my ACCESS card were to be disabled if I didn't vote, I'd damn well vote. I might even form an opinion).
no subject
Date: 2012-11-06 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-07 07:51 am (UTC)Some people are disenfranchised by the registration deadlines (which are... a week after the election is called? Something like that. I remember the Howard govt wanted to shorten them, because young people tended to vote against them). That's mostly young people, although you can register to vote any time after your 17th birthday. I presume that new citizens and people who've repatriated after 5 years or more overseas have similar problems, although I know certain interactions with the tax office trigger a nice letter from the government reminding you that you're obliged to enrol to vote / update your enrolment. If I had my way, you'd get given an application for a Medicare card and a voter enrolment form every time you applied for a new drivers' license or changed your driver's details, but we haven't got that far yet.
The other group we disenfranchise is people without birth certificates - that's mostly rural indigenous people, but a few non-indigenous people whose birth certificates were issued in wrong names, etc. There are ways to GET a birth certificate, or get it amended, but you have to fight the beaurocracy.
Still. That's a relatively small number of people disenfranchised by the electoral system, compared to the stunts the US pulls.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-07 10:19 am (UTC)This isn't actually entirely true.
If you moved recently, yes. If you moved a long time ago, and didn't bother/know to/get around to updating your enrolment, it's possible to be removed from the Federal rolls and only find out on polling day (basically, if the new occupant marks two confirmation of enrolment letters to you as return to sender, you're removed). I know at least one person disenfranchised this way. (As a bonus, this person was a naturalised Australian and had some difficulty re-enrolling because proof of citizenship is not as easy for them. In her case, a citizenship certificate was issued to her parents, not to her, so she must visit them to borrow it for chores like this.)
It's now quite hard to get removed from NSW or VIC state though, they use the drivers licence and electricity service databases to automatically update you. (So that part of your wishlist is coming true.) The Federal and State rolls sometimes get quite badly out of sync, see Antony Green on that issue.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-07 10:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-07 07:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-07 07:54 am (UTC)