Quote:
Originally posted by sapiens
How do they enforce compulsory voting?
|
Voting being first made compulsory in 1924, they use all the usual means to get you to vote; small fines, annoying letters, y'know...the kind of thing bureaucrats are good at. Approximately the same level of inconvenience as parking fines or jury duty.
People first register to vote at 18 and are put on the electoral roll. If you're away from home on voting day, casting an absentee ballot anywhere else in the country is usually incredibly easy.
Compulsory voting is seen as pretty damn ordinary if its already been part of your political system for years. Unfortunately, in contemporary politics it would be seen to destabilize the 'status quo' too much for the entrenched party powers to ever consider implementing it. And vice versa. A hard sell.
Here's more info:
http://www.aec.gov.au