Originally Posted by MrFriendly

Non compulsory voting is an interesting beast, I think it really does change the face of politics in a lot of ways.

In Australia you have to vote, which can make elections totally unpredictable, like our election last year which yielded a hung parliament. If you're ever so inclined to read about Australian politics you'll quickly understand that a balance of power coming down to three independent country seats and a Greens member (Very very VERY left wing party) was kinda of big deal.