Maybe the whole world should get a say?

[girlyswot]

You Should Be Allowed to Vote

You got 11/15 questions correct. Generally speaking, you're very well informed. If you vote this election, you'll know exactly who (and what) you'll be voting for. You're likely to have strong opinions, and you have the facts to back them up.

Should You Be Allowed to Vote?

Comments

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

I do think it's outrageous that you are not legally allowed to abstain in Australia. I can see the point of making everyone fill in a ballot paper, but you really ought to be allowed to spoil the paper as a genuine political choice. Though voting for the dog is almost as good as abstaining, I suppose...

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

If it wasn't compulsory, a lot of people wouldn't bother. The level of interest in politics and world events is extremely low here - far lower than in the UK. (I was attending one of the Universities here when Bush invaded Iraq and there was absolutely nothing - no posters, no protests, no discussion, not even an acknowledgement that it was happening. I felt like I was in a parallel universe or something. I was at university during the Falklands and worked next door to Manchester University during the first Iraq War and it was impossible to avoid them.) The preferential voting system can be complicated. There was one election where the ballot paper was the size of a tablecloth in one constituency. I can see the point of it being compulsory although I still find the fact that it is compulsory to exercise my democratic right rather odd.