Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Compulsory voting has got to go!

I have been annoyed for a while now that voting is compulsory. Of course everyone ought to have the right to vote, but they should also have the option of whether or not to exercise that right.

In my opinion, under the current system, we are not necessarily getting the considered voice of the people or seeing democracy in action, instead we are suffering the will of the ‘who gives a s%*@’ proportion of the electorate who cast careless or thoughtless votes.

My main premise is that people who would choose, if they could, to give up their right to have a say in who governs their country (something most people value dearly) don’t deserve a say anyway. Forcing the reluctant, or those with no real concept of what they are voting for, to the polling booth only encourages frivolous or ill-considered use of the vote and detracts from its value. Who will miss the voice of those who don’t even care enough (or know enough) to vote?

I would ask this: How valuable is the vote of someone who has to be dragged kicking and screaming to the polls? How much thought are they putting into it? If someone regards voting as a pain in the bum, or an imposition on their normal activities, is that a person whose vote should count as much as someone who has given the issues and policies measured consideration and has weighed up all the available options? Those two votes carry the same weight and value and that isn’t right.

There is no great loss by making voting voluntary. The majority will still vote and those that opt out won’t be bothered by the result either way. If they were, they would have voted in the first place!

Many have argued that if we didn’t have compulsory voting only the educated or privileged classes would turn out, leaving the voice of the working class, or less privileged, largely unheard – this is outdated! It’s no longer the case that rich people vote Liberal and the less affluent vote Labor. A huge proportion of suburbanites are more likely to be swinging voters and influenced by the last minute advertising battery, voting for anyone that promises to keep their mortgage rates down. The intellectual vote, the professionals and inner city snobs are just as likely to vote Green or Labor as they are Liberal these days. It’s impossible to pinpoint one group who will miss out if voting is made voluntary.

It has always puzzled me that all the representatives of the various parties try to thrust their respective voting cards into your hands at the polling station right before you cast your vote… if you haven’t got a firm idea of who you are going to vote for before you get to the polling station then you haven’t got the right to vote in my book. No amount of last minute flyers thrust into your hands should make any difference at all.

Another point is that if voting were not compulsory, we would eliminate or limit the number of intentional informal votes, saving a lot of time and money. Why on earth we refer to them as informal votes has got me beat. It’s an invalid vote for crying out loud. Nothing more. Nothing less. It’s not going to miss out on a black tie dinner with Quentin Bryce with all the other little ‘formal’ ballot papers… it’s not going to be relegated to a thongs and singlet barbie just because you scrawled smiley faces and profanities all over it! It’s a bloody donkey vote, plain and simple!

The whole thing seems simple to me; if you can’t be bothered or don’t want to vote you shouldn’t have to – leave it up to the people who want to and who have an idea of what they want. It seems to me that way we get a representative vote from people who care and who have given it some thought. Maybe that way we will limit the Bogan vote, the eenie-meanie-minie-mo vote, the brainless vote and the “I’m put out by being here” vote.

Call me an elitist if you will, but what I am is a realist. We need to change the system – make voting optional, whilst pouring more resources into electoral and political education. Informed citizens make for effective and truly representative democracy.