I have a question about your mandatory voting law

[bluestateguy]

People who don't vote are fined, right? Does the government actually collect the fines?

What if someone has a perfectly valid reason for failing to vote, like a pregnant woman who goes into labor on election day? Is there some kind of appeals process so that people can have their fines waived?

[Esra Star]

1. There is only a half hearted attempt to collect fines.

Almost any excuse will do.
The whole idea is to just make apathetic people understand
that voting is important.
There is nothing to stop anybody getting their voting slip,
walking straight to the box, putting it in and walking out.
the "fine" is to all intents and purposes a gesture.
Hope that clarifies.

[Matilda]

2. They have polling booths in hospitals,

so in theory, a woman in labour could still vote at the hospital. I
would have.

[no safe haven]

3. There is a $60 fine for not voting, or at least not having

your name crossed off the electoral roll at the polling booths on election day. What you do with your vote is up to you - you can leave it blank or whatever, just so long as you're name is checked off. And the Electoral Commission collects all fines.

If you don't show up on the day, then a short while later you receive a form/letter in the mail asking why you didn't vote. If you're sick, out of town, have to work, or another valid reason for not being able to make it to the polling booth, then that's accepted. I have never heard of any excuses being checked or knocked back, like, they don't ask for a doctor's certificate or a note from your employer. I know that if you don't respond to the Electoral Commission in a certain amount of time, then the fine goes to the government debt collector's office for action.

The system works for us because we're used to it. The term 'mandatory' doesn't really enter into the equation, it's just our civic duty in which we gladly participate. It's only half an hour out of our lives on a Saturday, no worries.

[Matilda]

4. I don't understand people who don't want to vote,

although I know a few who are either not registered, or who complain
every time.

My son had a fight with his girlfriend, who's 19 and has neve enrolled,
over the reasons why she should vote. She could only come up with "Oh,
my vote doesn't matter" - and she lives in North Sydney; she could have
voted for Mike Bailey! They ended up not speaking for a couple of days
over it, but I was proud of my son for his efforts. He was playing in
a cricket match, but voted during the lunch break - it wouldn't occur to
him not to.

[depakid]

5. I don't understand the "donkey voting" thing

but apparently, placement on the ballot is pretty big deal.

[Matilda]

6. The position of the names on the voting slips is chosen by ballot,

so there's no rule about who comes first; it can be a major party or
one nobody's ever heard of.

The unthinking voters, or "donkeys", just number their ballots in the
order the names appear, no matter who they are or what party they
represent. Some do it out of ignorance, and some as a form of protest
if they don't like any of the candidates, or just object to having to
vote.

So drawing the no. 1 spot on a ticket is going to have some benefit,
even though the "donkey vote" is usually fairly small - around 1-2% of
the vote.

[Bear down under]

7. It's no great sweat

It's handled in the same way the police handle parking fines and the like.

You get a form from the Electoral Office headed "Notice to an elector who appears to have failed to vote". On that form there is a space where you can fill out the reason why you didn't turn up. (And another where you can claim you did, and give details.)This is a Statutory Declaration - in other words, you are deemed to have given your excuse under oath.

A couple of years ago I got one of those and noted on the form (which was perfectly true) that I suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome and had had an attack on that day. It didn't clear up till late afternoon, and by the time I was able to go out I was unable to get to the polling station in time. I never heard anything further. A friend who gets migraines has had a similar experience. The EO are pretty reasonable about all this, and I think if someone were to go into labour on election day and that reason was not accepted it would be headline news and questions would be asked in Parliament.

Or you can simply return the form with a cheque enclosed and the matter is at an end. You don't get a criminal record from this.

**************

Strictly speaking, it is not compulsory to actually vote. All you are required to do is (1) enroll when you become eligible -- when you turn 18, acquire citizenship, etc -- and (2) attend a polling place on election day.

You enroll by filling out a form at the Post Office, and the enrollment stays for life. Should you change your name or address, you just fill out another form updating your information.

Then on polling day you present yourself at a polling station and give your name and address to the poll clerk, who marks off your name on the Roll and hands you your ballot papers. All you are obliged to do then is put them in the ballot box. As has been said, it is perfectly legal to present a blank paper, whether embellished with rude remarks about politicians or not. It is then counted as an "informal vote", and there is a long tradition of the informal protest vote. Adding comments to a properly filled-out paper doesn't render your vote informal.

There are advantages in all this. First, the new government can be confident that the election does reflect the will of the whole people, not just an interested minority.

More important, perhaps, is that it makes any abuse of the system very difficult. Any attempt to interfere with someone carrying out his/her duty to vote becomes a serious criminal offence -- it's causing/attempting to cause the commission of what is technically a crime. And of course it obliges the government to ensure that people can vote without difficulty. It removes any argument that it is too expensive to provide sufficient polling stations, papers, etc. ("but there are only 65 people in Woop-Woop, it just isn't cost effective to have a station there. If they want to vote, why can't they travel to Galarghambone? It's only 75 miles away?")

Before the last (2004) election, Howard floated the idea of making voting optional, but there was so much opposition to the idea that he was obliged to drop it.

[Djinn]

8. no biggie

and it's compulsory turn up day no compulsion to actually vote if you don't want to.

a friend of mine replied to her fine notice with "I had a headache and stayed in bed sick" and she got out of it.