It must be strange seeing a govt actively encouraging people to vote, even telling them where they can...only one party in America does this the other, not so much..
Yep. Adequate polling places, locations determined by an independent electoral commissioner, in electoral districts determined by an independent electoral commissioner. Wild, right.
And, you can vote at any polling booth in the state and they'll make a ballot happen for you
Within the electorate you can vote at any booth. The booths are in your local area to make life easy
It is compulsory but they're pretty reasonable about it, you don't get a fine if you don't vote for something out of your control. You just get a letter explaining more about voting for next time 😅
AND, at most polling places there is a sausage sizzle (we like to call them Democracy sausages 😜) and some even have egg & bacon rolls in the morning! Voting is good 🤘
Entire federal election process is co-ordinated, organized, & refereed (for fairness) across the whole of Australia's states & territories by the independent Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). It also draws-up the electoral districts to stop gerrymandering by politicians
#auspol
#uspol
#ausvotes
another important difference is the level of accessibility for disabled voters
like the AEC definitely has more work to do here (I remain disenfranchised as my disability is yet to be adequately accommodated) but compared to issues faced by disabled voters in the US last Nov our system is "less bad"
Australia is actually a democracy. Sad to say, the US isn’t & hasn’t been for a long time. Money and the rule of capitalism is US politics. Rich get richer and poor get poorer. Yes - even the land of the free and home of the brave. Sorry for you and your compatriots.
It is compulsory to show up and get your name ticked off. You don't actually have to vote. 😀 Your ballot paper(s) can go straight into the box(es), unmarked. I do not recommend doing that, though. Preferential voting is great, IMO.
This is true. No silly “Voter ID” or mass vote fraud concerns either. Paper ballots, with preferences, counted by hand, under the eyes of scrutineers. The USA could never!
They'll never form government again, at least not in their current form. Going out the door backwards. Give it a couple more election cycles we'll see them gone, Labor taking up position as the right leaning alternative government and the Greens and a progressive bloc achieving govt on the left
Now they just need to improve on the digital side. Whenever I have to do Aussie admin, I'm baffled by terms such "sign this form with black pen" and "post the form" and "have an authorised person witness your signature" 😵💫
After I became a Danish citizen, I applied for (digitally) & received my new passport in about a week. I was still filling in the form & gathering documents about a month later for the Aussie renewal 😆😭
yes $20 for federal elections / referendums
however, many are misled by the poorly worded information on the VEC website "In Victoria, if you are enrolled to vote, you must vote in all Federal, State and council elections. If you do not vote, you may get a fine.... The fine for not voting is $99."
🙄
Comments
Dumb.
Within the electorate you can vote at any booth. The booths are in your local area to make life easy
#auspol
#auspol
#uspol
#ausvotes
like the AEC definitely has more work to do here (I remain disenfranchised as my disability is yet to be adequately accommodated) but compared to issues faced by disabled voters in the US last Nov our system is "less bad"
But I suppose when it’s compulsory…
https://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/non-voters.htm
however, many are misled by the poorly worded information on the VEC website "In Victoria, if you are enrolled to vote, you must vote in all Federal, State and council elections. If you do not vote, you may get a fine.... The fine for not voting is $99."
🙄