Quote:
Originally Posted by Dottore
I've always found this feature of Australian politics interesting. You get fined if you don't vote, right?
How much is the fine?
So your voter turnout is much higher - but isn't the result a less informed vote? I mean, there must be a lot of people who have no idea who to vote for - but who just go and tick any box on the ballot just to avoid the fine.
So even though the vote is more broadly based - and therefore arguably more democratic - you have this completely random factor of votes cast just to avoid the fine.
What do you Aussies think about that?
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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
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