| | to answer the original question - voting is compulsory. This is interesting, and the conundrum of voting in a democracy is studied at university in politics 101 etc. In Australia, this law is to the benefit of left wing Labor, as generally speaking right leaning folk (ironically, the Liberal Party) are of course more likely to vote, and to believe in voting, as opposed to people who regard government (and making the effort to vote) as getting in the way of sport, family and a drink with your mates. So, because of compulsory voting, Labor's chance of re-election at any given time is increased. This leads to the interesting situation of any left wing pollie ie any Labor or Democrat (token third libertarian party in basically a two party system) supporting this law in debate and the more authoritarian right wing Liberal pollies decrying it as an abuse of democracy. Which it is. At any given election/referendum, up to 10% of the vote is 'informal', and a lot of these informal votes are people who go to a polling centre, sign off the electoral roll, and then write `go screw yourself'etc on the voting slip. I think this level of informal votes is much higher than in any other western democracy. On the upside, it makes Australians much more politically aware and attentive, and election night parties are almost as good a reason for a piss up as a footy grand final; the question being who did you vote for rather than did you vote. I think the fine is $A50, or thereabouts.
To expand on the effect it has on the political landscape, members of parliament represent geographic blocks, and depending on the demographics of that area ie low or high income and so on, then it may be a massive disadvantage or an advantage to have compulsory voting.
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