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Licence suspension for not voting!

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Voting is a joke. What happens if I go in to a voting booth and vote, I then go to ten more voting booths and vote at all of them, I could use my friends name, now what happens it the seat I vote in wins by five votes, they look up the records and see I have voted ten time, are they going to have to all vote again???????
 
Krusty the Klown said:
What if you don't like ANY of the candidates on the ballot?
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Then run yourself. What right does anyone have to complain about the state of politics in this nation if they're not willing to do something about it themselves?

You could always vote informal, all the parties track the informal vote and do try to capture some of it. It is a valid and legal option for anyone to take.

awg said:
My son just turned 18, and I strongly advised him not to enrol.
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With the level and quality of data matching available to the government right now, this is an incredibly stupid thing to advise someone to do. You don't know what repercussions that may have later in his life.

m.
 
awg said:
My son just turned 18, and I strongly advised him not to enrol.

being the well-educated young man he is, of course he ignored my opinion.

I said, well then politic boy, you pay the fine for every half-assed local, state, federal, not to mention by-election you forget...and your vote doesnt matter in our seat, as it has always been held by Labor.
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I don't know if not enrolling is a way of avoiding fines.

A letter arrived a few days ago from the Australian Electoral Commission for a relative who is living overseas. At the bottom of the letter in large bold writing are the words:

"Enrolment and voting are compulsory"
 
Trevor_S said:
Maybe if enough people of his age a) enrolled and b) thought about their vote, something could be done ?

1. I am glad I am enrolled to vote
2. Voting isn't compulsory, attendance at the both is
3. In 25+ years of voting, I have never missed a federal, state of local election.
4. I haven't voted labor or coalition for 20+ years.
5. Much as it pains the libertarian in me, I think the consequences of a system of non compulsory voting is a worse then cumpsory voting.
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1) I am not glad
2) I consider my vote, fwiw
3) me either
4) I quite often vote non-major, but they are just as hopeless, look at pre-Nazi Germany
5) I agree

I just think it is wrong and bizzare to cancel the licence of, especially, young people, for forgetting to vote, the punishment does not fit the crime.

lots of young ones cant or wont pay the fine

just another revenue grab i suppose.

lad has already accrued 2 parking tickets, they will come out of his "trust fund" expense account:banghead:
 
That's extraordinary. I fail to see the connection between not voting and your driver's licence.

I'm not in favour of compulsory voting. If the electorate were not so disenchanted with politicians (for absolutely valid reasons) there would be a decent turn out anyway.

All the years I was living in NZ (where there is no compulsory voting) there was a better than 80% turn out.

Compulsory voting forces people who don't have a clue who is even standing to choose a bunch of names on the ballot form. Amazes me the number of people who accept the How to Vote forms handed out at polling booths. I can't see how that's going to produce a valid result.
 
marklar said:
With the level and quality of data matching available to the government right now, this is an incredibly stupid thing to advise someone to do. You don't know what repercussions that may have later in his life.
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It is not illegal to not enrol, however it is against the law to not vote once you are enrolled.

Julia said:
Compulsory voting forces people who don't have a clue who is even standing to choose a bunch of names on the ballot form. I can't see how that's going to produce a valid result.
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Exactly what the 2 parties which are the same want. People who dont care or know what they are doing will keep the same 2 parties in power.
 
bellenuit said:
I don't know if not enrolling is a way of avoiding fines.

A letter arrived a few days ago from the Australian Electoral Commission for a relative who is living overseas. At the bottom of the letter in large bold writing are the words:

"Enrolment and voting are compulsory"
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Did they bother to inform the aec that they had left the country? If not then they are obliged to vote whilst OS.
 
The AEC sent a letter a few years ago to my husband, asking him to nominate all of the adults in the house who should have been on the electoral roll. How can it be legal to send one person a letter requiring them to account for the actions of other adults! :mad:

I think I chucked it in the bin on the basis that they had no right to make him answer (and possibly, how could he be expected to know) what the actions of other adults (ie me!) were. I dont think it even asked him if he was correctly enrolled (guess that was assumed given he was sent the letter), just other adults. And I didnt get the same letter! Sexist!

And yeah, I usually read his 'generic business' mail and unless he has a secret mail box he doesnt get any other kind!:p:
 
marklar said:
Then run yourself. What right does anyone have to complain about the state of politics in this nation if they're not willing to do something about it themselves?
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I didn't say I was complaining about the state of politics, I said sometimes there is no one candidate that I think would do a good job. Particularly for local councils - just because someone has an opinion does not mean they have the nous to run a multi-million dollar cash-flow.

You can abstain from a vote in many bodies and councils, including the UN, but Australia is the only country where it is illegal to abstain.

You could always vote informal, all the parties track the informal vote and do try to capture some of it. It is a valid and legal option for anyone to take.
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What exactly is voting informally again?
 
Krusty the Klown said:
What exactly is voting informally again?
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As I understand it, an informal vote is a voting paper that has been lodged in the ballot box, but won't be counted as it has not been completed correctly.

A donkey vote - eg. voting 1,2,3,4 down the paper- and entering a different consecutive number starting with "1", in each box is a formal vote.

Not placing a voting paper in a ballot box is not a vote at all - ie. neither formal nor informal.

I could be corrected on the above.:)
 
My experience has been that if you don't vote they send you a letter and on it somewhere is a form where you can write down an explanation as to why you didn't vote. I've found that if you have a reasonable excuse then that tends to be the end of the matter. Another way to avoid queues is to postal vote or vote early because you're heading out of town prior to election day.

When online voting eventually comes along it will all be much easier.
 
pilots said:
Voting is a joke. What happens if I go in to a voting booth and vote, I then go to ten more voting booths and vote at all of them, I could use my friends name, now what happens it the seat I vote in wins by five votes, they look up the records and see I have voted ten time, are they going to have to all vote again???????
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That's the Queensland way there pilots.

Vote early and vote 15 times.

In the days of Joh Beam-Petersen they use to "dig up" dead votes. Find an old fudy-"dud"y to go and pretend he was the recently deceased John Citizen.

I won't even mention the gerrymander. Where towns like Rockhampton were in the same electorate as a town as far away as Cloncurry. :D
 
its facist savaging people with unfair punishments

The penalty used to be $20

they couldnt collect it economically, so that would be why they have resorted to this measure.

I am narrowly in favor of compulsory voting, for the reason that I dont like the heavy influence that well organised "minorities" can wield, such as fundamental Christians in the USA.

The real reason is the NSW govt is broke, they seem very incompetent, I am sure they will be unceremoniously voted out, and this is from a Labor supporter!

If they wanted to recover a $20 fine, then afaic, they should legislate to do so via Tax, or Centrelink, that would be fairer and safer...do you want a large number of unlicenced drivers?

btw, I used to work with Electoral Commission staff from time to time, they definitely had a high and mighty view of their bureaucratic function
 
Of the times I haven't forgotten to vote, I've never experienced a queue of more than a few people.
 
Mickem said:
voting should be voluntary!
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It sort of is

All you are required to do is have your name marked of the roll

Then walk out

dont even need to line up or mark the ballot paper.

Note: This may not be the correct legal interpretation, but, for all practical purposes, I dont think they would know, or check, if you even insert the ballot paper in the box.

I have had my attitude poisoned by living almost my entire life in a Labor held electorate
 
awg said:
All you are required to do is have your name marked of the roll

Then walk out

dont even need to line up or mark the ballot paper.
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If this is legal, then what is the point of even showing up at all? It does not achieve anything.

There must be some reason that the pollies want us to... (insert conspiracy theory here.....).:eek:
 

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