Dottore, I was just thinking the same thing. It always bugs me that in the U.S. we try to coerce people into voting as if that will actually make them think about the issues. Hell, if you are too lazy to get up off your butt to vote you are probably too lazy to learn about the issues.

I think because we are a small population (we just cracked 21M) most people are fairly well informed of who does what etc. We, the majority of the population, are actually interested in what's going on. Because we have to vote it sort of forces you into a decision, so I as say most people take the time to get informed.

That's great. I wish America was more--HEY LOOK! American Idol!

same in Belgium
voting is not just a right, it's mandatory

there's a certain debate as to how it influences the results
such as people who disagree with the major parties and then out of spite cast a protest vote with some rightwing nutcase party... frankly it's just a drag to get out of bed early on sunday to beat the queue... Belgian Politics are just an odd mixmatch of scum and scummer, topped with a bit of scum

i guess it's probably the same just about everywhere else :D

those who vote a blanc, or invalid (because they can't figure out which type of scum to vote for) those votes get added to the majority party's numbers

the reason is, it widens the gap and supposedly allows for a more stable, strong formation of goverment ( for those who followed recent Belgian events can note that last elections it kinda didn't work, they're still trying to make a formation, it's been half a year)

the fine for not showing up is not always enforced, they only prosecute if turnout is low ( i think less then 95% or something like that), and fines vary from district to district... i've skipped once( hard to vote if you are ****faced vote and have trouble finding your way home, let alone the voting office), didn't get anything from it... i'm in little a provincial town, the big cities usually make more work out of it

According to the Australian Electoral Commission web site the fine in Australia for not voting is $20 - so its not a big stick but enough to make you remember to go!

I agree with dewolf - we are generally well informed about politics and each party publish and handout how-to-vote cards on the day. With peferential voting you need to number each box on the Ballot paper, so the handouts help. For my local rep Ballot there were 7 on the list.

For the Senate, the NSW Ballot paper had 79 people - so to make it easy, the names are grouped by party and you can chose to vote for one group instead of numbering all 79 boxes. The Electoral Commission then assume your vote will be spread by the predetermined (and registered) pattern for that party.

Polls close at 6pm and by about 9pm there are enough votes counted to know what the result is likely to be.

One of the interesting things about representative elections is that it is posible to govern in your own right (majority of seats) with only 26% of the vote - you only need to gain slightly more than half the votes in sligtly more than half the seats.

Tim