Hell no. (No offense to the great nation of Australia, which in this particular regard is just like a number of other countries.)
The right to abstain is not often celebrated, but that doesn’t make it less important. Being able to save one’s vote for when it really matters, and thus signal by voting that one has a higher degree of interest in the election outcome, is no less valuable than the ability to express a preference for one candidate or party over another—and it’s something that Australians (and Brazilians, etc) obviously don’t have.
Not pointless at all: it turns most of the cost of voting into a sunk cost, thus making it much more likely to be rational for any one citizen to cast a vote.
Well, then my original point stands, since the policy clearly diminishes the strength of the signal sent by voting as opposed to not voting.
And let me be clear: I do also object on general libertarian grounds to the government making me vote, i.e. I don’t in fact believe voting is anywhere near important enough to justify such a policy. So I’m very happy not to be a citizen of one of those countries.
the policy clearly diminishes the strength of the signal sent by voting as opposed to not voting.
Disagree. If the cost of voting is negligible (because you’re going to be in the voting booth anyway) and you still vote blank or F.Y., that is a much stronger signal.
Someone who stays at home most often still has a favoured candidate, but he may be lazy, or the polls may have been so skewed that he figured it wasn’t worth showing up. But someone who shows up and votes blank can only have done it because, for some reason, he had no preference in the election—and someone who writes F.Y. on the ballot can only have done it because he wants to express his spite at the whole system.
Right, well I think voting should be the costly signal, and not voting the default. I don’t think abstention should be a signal of spite or contempt for the system; rather the opposite (signaling a sufficient level of contentment that one is indifferent to the outcome).
If you really want to express contempt, you can voluntarily show up and vote “F.Y”.
It’s annoying sure, but what other strategies are available to them? Voting is anonymous process after all. They’ve succeeded in getting you all the way to the polling booth which is a start.
If the voters can’t even be bothered to fill out a simple form, that suggests to me deeper problems.
Not that I’m one to talk, I vote for Optimus Prime.
Hell no. (No offense to the great nation of Australia, which in this particular regard is just like a number of other countries.)
The right to abstain is not often celebrated, but that doesn’t make it less important. Being able to save one’s vote for when it really matters, and thus signal by voting that one has a higher degree of interest in the election outcome, is no less valuable than the ability to express a preference for one candidate or party over another—and it’s something that Australians (and Brazilians, etc) obviously don’t have.
That’s not a problem, you can still vote blank or “[expletive]” for that.
In that case, the requirement to show up at the polling station seems like a pointless infringement on personal liberty.
Not pointless at all: it turns most of the cost of voting into a sunk cost, thus making it much more likely to be rational for any one citizen to cast a vote.
Well, then my original point stands, since the policy clearly diminishes the strength of the signal sent by voting as opposed to not voting.
And let me be clear: I do also object on general libertarian grounds to the government making me vote, i.e. I don’t in fact believe voting is anywhere near important enough to justify such a policy. So I’m very happy not to be a citizen of one of those countries.
Disagree. If the cost of voting is negligible (because you’re going to be in the voting booth anyway) and you still vote blank or F.Y., that is a much stronger signal.
Someone who stays at home most often still has a favoured candidate, but he may be lazy, or the polls may have been so skewed that he figured it wasn’t worth showing up. But someone who shows up and votes blank can only have done it because, for some reason, he had no preference in the election—and someone who writes F.Y. on the ballot can only have done it because he wants to express his spite at the whole system.
Right, well I think voting should be the costly signal, and not voting the default. I don’t think abstention should be a signal of spite or contempt for the system; rather the opposite (signaling a sufficient level of contentment that one is indifferent to the outcome).
If you really want to express contempt, you can voluntarily show up and vote “F.Y”.
It’s annoying sure, but what other strategies are available to them? Voting is anonymous process after all. They’ve succeeded in getting you all the way to the polling booth which is a start. If the voters can’t even be bothered to fill out a simple form, that suggests to me deeper problems.
Not that I’m one to talk, I vote for Optimus Prime.
What evidence do you actually have for Australia being a great nation? If none, then why did you say it?