AEC: "18,098,797 people are enrolled to vote for the federal election! 🎉 This represents a record 98.2% of all eligible Australians - the envy of so many democracies around the globe." - ThreadSky

kevinbonham.bsky.social • 3 days ago

AEC: "18,098,797 people are enrolled to vote for the federal election! 🎉

This represents a record 98.2% of all eligible Australians - the envy of so many democracies around the globe."

Comments

planecrazyaus.bsky.social•3 days ago

Now it's time to make EVERY vote count Australia 🇦🇺 💪

phantom-rooster.bsky.social•3 days ago

Compulsory voting combined with a preferential system is the jewel in the crown of democarcy.

kezme.bsky.social•3 days ago

Weekend voting is also underrated.

phantom-rooster.bsky.social•3 days ago

Very true. Holding polls midweek is done for a reason, and it's not to make it more accessible!

dancingbeavers.bsky.social•3 days ago

Thought that was its initial purpose, when the majority lived rurally. But yeah no reason to keep it there except tradition.

lindasc.bsky.social•3 days ago

And early voting, postal voting. It's so easy to vote here.

bug1.bsky.social•3 days ago

Thank you USA for teaching the free world that it's everyone's job to safeguard #democracy

peterrelph.bsky.social•3 days ago

& yet we are still an oligarchy

#auspol

johnnol1.bsky.social•3 days ago

When will Trump come after us for having such an anti-American voting policy I wonder.🤔

mish3091.bsky.social•3 days ago

I understand that an additional 850k have enrolled since the last election and, with so much pre-polling and postal voting, I wonder how quickly the result of the election can be confidently called. Past performance may not reflect future trends with so many new voters.

maddogeco.bsky.social•3 days ago

They won’t start counting the prepoll or postals until the polls on election day close.

mish3091.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yep I just meant that it might be quite late into the night before they predict seats falling because so many new voters and even so many new Independents make predictions for 2PP more difficult.

maddogeco.bsky.social•3 days ago

I think the rise in indie candidates might see the counters having to go further down the ballot to get a result. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

babsflowers.bsky.social•3 days ago

The other thing the rest of the world should envy is our preferential voting system and the 'Voices of'/Teal candidates enabled by it.

beigewash.bsky.social•3 days ago

@kevinbonham.bsky.social
What percentage usually do actually vote in Aust out of those enrolled?

garyfallon2.bsky.social•3 days ago

90%+ of enrolled voters actually vote. Of those who don't, around half are either overseas, dead or away from home on polling day and fail to make a prepoll vote.

bullman53.bsky.social•3 days ago

Voting is compulsory in Australia, if you are enrolled and don’t vote you are fined. The informal vote rate is more relevant which is running at around 10% in the last couple of decades

diamondqc.bsky.social•3 days ago

10% is incorrect. for 30+ years informal votes have actually been approximately half that: 5-6% for house of reps, 3-4% for senate
source: https://www.aec.gov.au/voting/informal_voting/summary.htm
also the fine (technically, a "$20 administrative penalty") only applies if you don't have a reasonable explanation for not voting

pickersnext.bsky.social•3 days ago

The Democracy Sausage is pretty awesome too

margaretmorgan.bsky.social•3 days ago

Compulsory voting (well, compulsory-turning-up-to-the-voting-place-and-getting-your-name-marked-off) is a brilliant institution. I wish more countries would do the same.

The global export of the Democracy Sausage™ would be a fine thing too.

bornwrong.bsky.social•2 days ago

Compulsory voting AND a country wide Electoral Commission.

margaretmorgan.bsky.social•2 days ago

Yes!

philipthalis.bsky.social•3 days ago

Memo USA, UK & other dysfunctional democracies.
If only 50-60% of your population turn up to vote, how can you claim either a majority or a mandate?

margaretmorgan.bsky.social•3 days ago

One of the other great things about compulsory voting is that it puts the onus on the state to ensure that everyone who is eligible to vote can vote.

It's the perfect antidote to the sort of voter suppression you see in the US.

lafileuse.bsky.social•3 days ago

That was the point that changed my mind about compulsory voting. I’m a fan now.

margaretmorgan.bsky.social•3 days ago

Exhibit A:

https://bsky.app/profile/jamellebouie.net/post/3lmizu2es4k2t

margaretmorgan.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yes! When my husband moved to Australia 30 years ago from the Netherlands, he thought compulsory voting was a bad idea. Living there changed his mind.

Now we both wish the Dutch would adopt it!

scorpiogcoast.bsky.social•3 days ago

Exactly. Best part of our system.
If you are going to fine people for not voting you have to make it easy for everyone to vote.

mostyngale.bsky.social•2 days ago

Totally agree. If any govt. makes it harder for people to vote it will really hurt them come election day when voters who don't know any better get annoyed that they have to wait 20 mins to vote.

drsally.bsky.social•3 days ago

Voter suppression was always bad in the US but it’s just getting so much worse. How the hell can they call themselves a democracy?

margaretmorgan.bsky.social•3 days ago

Not-democracy is built into its bones, I think. If you combine the gerrymandering, the electoral college, first-past-the-post so winner takes all, and a ludicrous degree of executive power, there's not much democracy left.

drsally.bsky.social•3 days ago

I recently read about the origins of the electoral college

margaretmorgan.bsky.social•3 days ago

Sobering stuff, isn't it.

simonrosenberg.bsky.social•2 days ago

"Where the US favours liberty & rights of democracy & majorities, we favour democracy & majorities over liberty & rights"

Judith Brett's line was broadly true 10 years ago.
Now under the #TrumpTyranny, US has ditched it all.
Or...rights only for the wealthy.
https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/would-mandatory-voting-work-us-australias-success-shows-way

margaretmorgan.bsky.social•2 days ago

I didn't realise that Obama favoured compulsory voting. Fascinating article, thanks!

paking.bsky.social•3 days ago

Let's hope we all utilise the 🗳 right ✅️ for maximum effect on the duopoly

gergyl.bsky.social•3 days ago

Now do that calculation for Israel.

garyfallon2.bsky.social•3 days ago

Indeed, it was a turnout of around 60% at the 1922 federal election that drove the move to compulsory voting in Australia.

jaksays.bsky.social•2 days ago

Australia does some things brilliantly well, and compulsory voting is one of them

quoththecraven.bsky.social•2 days ago

That's a f*ing lot of democracy sausages.

Butchers and bakers, on your mark. Snaggers, to the grill.

againstcorruption.bsky.social•2 days ago

It must be like their Christmas

wildartichoke.bsky.social•2 days ago

It helps when it’s compulsory.

kate-eviva.bsky.social•2 days ago

So it seems Aussies are engaged and concerned. Good.

richwhitfield.bsky.social•3 days ago

Ah yes, forced democracy…the most democratic type 🤣

lucid23.bsky.social•3 days ago

It’s up to individuals to enrol friend it’s not automatic. You only have to look at the last US election and all it’s voter suppression to see how superior our system is wake up

annkreger.bsky.social•3 days ago

It’s not forced. No one is obliged to complete a valid ballot paper.

lunaseataz.bsky.social•2 days ago

The fine is $20 and if you have a valid reason i.e.illness etc the fine is waived. Quite simple really.

kezme.bsky.social•3 days ago

It's not so different to jury duty.

richwhitfield.bsky.social•3 days ago

Only that in jury duty you have to actively participate and take in the facts being presented. With compulsory voting the majority of voters don’t actually undertake any kind of critical analysis of who they should vote for so while you have a high voter turnout this doesnt guarantee informed votes

vintangled.bsky.social•3 days ago

And you get those stats from where exactly?

richwhitfield.bsky.social•3 days ago

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2053168017751993
https://www.thecgo.org/research/does-mandatory-voting-lead-to-more-informed-voting/

vintangled.bsky.social•3 days ago

lol Singh I should have guessed

kezme.bsky.social•3 days ago

That doesn't actually support "the majority of voters don’t actually undertake any kind of critical analysis of who they should vote for", which is a _very_ strong claim. Singh et al found evidence that compelled voters did less investigation in their simulation, but not zero. 1/2

lucid23.bsky.social•3 days ago

The US has voted in Trump Biden Trump do you think they were informed votes ?

garyfallon2.bsky.social•3 days ago

There have been numerous studies over the last 50 years looking at this "they don't know what they're voting for" canard. Every one has debunked it. Voters tend to take a great deal of interest in politics once an election nears or has been called and make their own analysis of policy before voting.

richwhitfield.bsky.social•3 days ago

Do you have any references to these studies? From a personal perspective I believe that (based on what I observe from friends, neighbours etc) I both take more of an interest in this topic than most and also that I barely have enough information to make any sort of informed decision.

garyfallon2.bsky.social•3 days ago

I'm sure that you have the skills to look them up yourself. Sadly, for you, I don't have the time to do it today.

yeppoon.bsky.social•2 days ago

Absolutely Kevin … let’s hope they vote wisely… mark LNP last

nikisavvasjumper.bsky.social•2 days ago

Now we just need at least 90% to vote as that number has been steadily decreasing over time

I’d be very happy with 92% this time 🤗

deelebrun.bsky.social•3 days ago

Definitely. The US and UK are great examples of what happens when people are allowed to tune out from the political process.

roseannebyrne.bsky.social•3 days ago

I dunno, we had 12 years of horrific government. Haters exist here.

johnnol1.bsky.social•3 days ago

So do media monopolies with a right wing agenda creating those haters.

roseannebyrne.bsky.social•3 days ago

I’d say poverty, disadvantage and inequality have a lot to do with it. But yes the parlours state of the world media due in large part to an Australian born devil are a big part of it. But there’s a question about Capitalism as well.

johnnol1.bsky.social•3 days ago

Questions about Capitalism are best asked and answered by revolution but latter day Robespierres, Trotskys, Castros etc remain thin on the ground and with the internet, A1 and media there to nip all organisation in the bud will remain so I fear.

roseannebyrne.bsky.social•3 days ago

Parlous. Spell check is poorly educated.

peterrelph.bsky.social•3 days ago

That is what happens when you trust AI :)

melbamum5.bsky.social•2 hours ago

Yes but they didn’t have unfettered power

roseannebyrne.bsky.social•1 hour ago

A bit harder here as we don’t have the role of their President as Trump us playing it - governance by decree. But then neither do they, yet it’s happening. Congress sidelined.

deelebrun.bsky.social•3 days ago

True, but Trump, Johnson and Brexit were delivered by people NOT voting. Voter suppression has become a political strategy.

sandrew-0.bsky.social•3 days ago

Murdoch has caused a lot of trouble

roseannebyrne.bsky.social•3 days ago

So much we had the biggest parliamentary petition in Australia ever demanding a Royal Commission into them.

furcifernova.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yah but at least you don't have to hear people bitching that didn't vote. People copping out then whinging are kinda annoying.

deelebrun.bsky.social•3 days ago

roseannebyrne.bsky.social•3 days ago

True. Low level of informal votes.

rb-citizen.bsky.social•3 days ago

In a way formal votes are valid too.

"I don't think any of you lot are worth voting for"

roseannebyrne.bsky.social•3 days ago

Not to me. At polling a lot it was largely disinterest. And we have a range of options.

furcifernova.bsky.social•3 days ago

It's a lack of civil responsibility. It's pretty much the bare minimum we ask of citizens in terms of using their brain. NGL I've skipped a vote or two and it just generates more apathy. That's not something to cultivate in a society.

sarcasticcow.bsky.social•2 days ago

It's a legal requirement to vote in Australia.

bornwrong.bsky.social•3 days ago

That's something to be truly proud of.

mag9nus.bsky.social•3 days ago

If the US could get half way to this we would not have tRump.

teaforus.bsky.social•3 days ago

They get fined if they don’t vote in Perth

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