Australia: The Country That Forces You to Vote… Forced Voting Explained
The idea that citizens should vote on issues concerning them started in the 5th century BC in Athens, Greece. That’s how democracy was born, and most Western countries take pride in their freedom to vote. But were Athenian citizens free to vote?
Well, actually, they were forced to vote. Citizens were expected to be active in the government and were fined or marked if they weren’t.
So it’s funny when, today, somebody is introduced to compulsory (forced) voting for the first time. And, today, Australia is one of the best examples of forced voting.
So When Did Australia Introduce Compulsory Voting?
In 1922, Australia had a federal election where they voted to keep or change members of the national government. However, the voter turnout was rather low, and compulsory voting was put into place in 1924 to fix the problem. And it worked; the voter turnout rose from 60% to around 91%. So, Australia has had compulsory voting ever since.
However, not all Aborigines could vote until 1949. When all Aborigines finally could, voting didn’t become mandatory until 1984, when all eligible voters were required to vote.
So What Happens If You Don’t Vote?
Well, like in ancient Athens, people are fined $20 AUD ($13.53 USD) if they do not cast a ballot. Funny enough, if you failed to vote on election day, the Australian Government actually makes it easy for you to pay them $20 through their Government EasyPay service.
And the Australian government also makes it really hard for you to miss voting. The Australian Electoral Commission says,
As voting is compulsory, electors are given a number of ways to cast their vote at an election, including postal voting, pre-poll voting, absent voting, voting at Australian overseas missions and voting at mobile teams at hospitals and nursing homes and in remote localities, as well as ordinary voting at a polling place in their electorate.
However, some people dislike being forced to vote. Libertarian columnist Jason Kent says,
“It’s disgusting. It’s far from being democratic. We are not a democracy if we can’t vote democratically.
People who protest or dislike compulsory voting typically spoil or improperly fill out their ballots. And spoiled ballots accounted for around 6% of the total ballots cast in the 2010 election.
Australia Isn’t The Only One Who Forces Votes
According to the Australian Electoral Commission, there are currently 32 countries that have compulsory voting, but only 19 of them actually enforce it.
So Is Compulsory Voting Effective?
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