Compulsory voting is more popular with the left wing. The Liberals have opposed automatic voter enrollment while the ALP pushed it through, and the LNP in Queensland have suggested voluntary voting while Gillard and Swan bitterly opposed it.
Liberals around the country have come out in favour of voluntary voting. Unlike Gillard and Swan, many Liberals feel that their decision to vote should be their own. Gillard and Swan know that compulsory voting favours their side of politics.
Unfortunately for the Liberals, the first line of defense against compulsory voting is to not comply. People can secretly (or openly) break the law and take the view that when injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. And many do.
This is why compulsory voting favours the ALP. This is also why the ALP will campaign heavily on compulsory voting to encourage the new 1.5 million voters who have been forced, or think they’ve been forced onto the electoral roll, to vote. This could make a big difference, especially if they bring back Rudd.
This doesn't mean to say that everyone has an opinion on compulsory voting. They don’t need to because compulsory voting changes the flavor of the entire electoral process, from one of freedom to one of conformity. Unfortunately many Australians still don’t see the difference. But they can feel it.
In a system that is not free, some people will always cut their losses and conform. In some ways it’s easier. It’s easier to put your head down, conform and support the party – the ALP at least, but not the Liberals. They tell people NOT to conform. They tell people NOT to vote. They say it’s wrong to be forced against your will to attend the polling booth. They suggest scrapping compulsory voting.
But why cut off your nose (by not voting) to spite your face? Isn’t there a better way to protest in favour of democracy?
Some people would say that this is a reason to comply with compulsory voting. Others say it’s a reason to abolish compulsory voting. But surely our decision to vote should be democratic; otherwise we will see our electoral sample continue to be tainted.
A selection bias is created when the government forces us to attend the polls and this bias favours the very people who happen to favour the bias. Go figure.
One way to remove this selection bias might be for the government to select a random sample of voters, like in an opinion poll, but with a larger sample. The trouble with this method is that it would not be democratic because the decision to vote would have to be stolen away from the people. It would mean that the government would choose who votes and who doesn’t. Clearly the people should be free to make this choice for themselves. That’s democracy.
In a democracy the people hold the supreme power, not the government. We should all have the same free and equal right to vote, free from government coercion. And it would be far better if our leaders inspired us to vote rather than forcing us to attend the polling booth.
Only when the people are free to decide if they vote, will we have an accurate electoral sample – a sample that is chosen by the people. After all, if we are capable of deciding which party we will vote for, we are certainly capable of deciding if we vote.
The only reason people argue for compulsory voting is to increase voter turnouts. Unfortunately the Australian people have been lied to for many years about voter turnouts. The government boosts the figures from 80% to 94% by counting invalid votes as votes and excluding the 10% of eligible voters who aren’t even on the electoral roll.
Our voter age population (VAP) turnouts are lower than many countries where voting is voluntary, but Australians still think we have the best voter turnouts in the world thanks to compulsory voting. We've been brainwahed into thinking our lack of freedom makes us more free.
And as our parties converge to attract the swinging voters, with no need to motivate their base, our system is centralised between communism and fascism at the totalitarian end of the political end of the spetrum. See more about Australia's slide towards totalitarianism.
Only nine other nations in the world enforce compulsory voting and none are great bastions of democratic freedom, far from it. We are headed in the same direction with threats to free speech, freedom of association and other basic human rights, on which issues the Liberal's are mute. They can't afford to scare off the swining voters.
There is absolutely no reason to maintain compulsory voting and every reason to give Australians back their freedom to vote.
Our decision to vote should be democratic.
Jason Kent
I agree Jason. A free country with compulsory voting is far from free. Compulsory voting is only one one a plethora of issues facing Australians today but unfortunately the people who should be steering this ship (the citizens) are asleep at the wheel. I came to loathe the situation such that I have left the place and found greater freedom elsewhere.
Good luck in your endeavour.
Posted by: Bitemyshiney | March 12, 2013 at 01:27 PM
Another example of compulsory voting being the darling of the Left is the Greens push for 16 (or was it 15) year olds to be given the vote.
They know their brains haven't developed adequately to make an informed choice and the public school system has been steadily indoctrinating them.
Actually, I think I've just made an argument to increase the voting age to 21 again (smirk)
Posted by: Armchair Beak | March 12, 2013 at 08:04 PM