Monday, February 09, 2004 |
Compulsory Voting
Reading 85 George St this morning got me thinking once again about the Pro's and Con's of the Compulsory Voting laws we have in this country.
I know the last few times I voted, I have simply had my name crossed off the list and then thrown my voting papers in the bin as I don't believe in being forced to vote.
If you go further than that and do not even turn up to get your name crossed off the list then you will be fined $100. It is however very easy to get out of the fine by simply saying you were interstate or overseas, in a comma etc...
This actually happened to me one year in Local Council elections as I had moved but not registered in the new location. When my old Council held their elections and I did not vote, they sent me a fine which I easily got out of after explaining the situation.
But why should I have had to explain myself in the first place?
Reading 85 George St this morning got me thinking once again about the Pro's and Con's of the Compulsory Voting laws we have in this country.
| On the Pro side we have a system that forces you to choose someone, which in turn forces an enormous voter turn out the likes of which America and England could only dream about.
The Con side of the argument is "what if I don't want to vote for any of the candidates?" The Pro Compulsory Voting Camp say that if you don't want to vote for anyone, just do a "Donkey vote". The problem I have with that argument is that if you are happy for them to do that and thereby throw their vote away, why should they be forced to turn up in the first place? |
|
I know the last few times I voted, I have simply had my name crossed off the list and then thrown my voting papers in the bin as I don't believe in being forced to vote.
If you go further than that and do not even turn up to get your name crossed off the list then you will be fined $100. It is however very easy to get out of the fine by simply saying you were interstate or overseas, in a comma etc...
This actually happened to me one year in Local Council elections as I had moved but not registered in the new location. When my old Council held their elections and I did not vote, they sent me a fine which I easily got out of after explaining the situation.
But why should I have had to explain myself in the first place?
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home