Uncounted Votes: Informal Voting in the House of Representatives as a Marker of Political Exclusion in Australia (original) (raw)

Protest or Error? Informal Voting and Compulsory Voting

Australian Journal of Political Science, 2007

Some opponents of compulsory voting claim that rising rates of informal voting point to growing antipathy towards the institution. In order to test this claim we examine recent trends in informal voting, focusing upon some recent figures, particularly those of the 2004 Federal election when there was a sharp rise in informal votes. We suggest that it is not compulsion that is leading to informal voting but rather complexity and its interactions with sociological factors that are brought into play by near-universal turnout. The 2004 Federal election saw a notable rise in levels of informal voting, with 5% (or 639,851 votes) declared informal. This increase in informals gave renewed energy to calls for the abolition of compulsory voting since, according to some commentators, compulsory voting 'causes' a rise in informal votes due to protest against the compulsion (e.g. Minchin, cited in Coorey 2005, 21; Griffin, cited in Bennett 2005, 9). But such assertions are rarely, if ever, supported by sustained argument or evidence. By revisiting and contextualising what happened in 2004 we show that, although some informal votes are undoubtedly protest votes, the majority are not; instead, they reflect the interaction between low levels of literacy, numeracy and English language competence and a complex voting system rather than disaffection or lack of political interest. Furthermore, of those that could, in fact, be interpreted as protest votes, very few are likely to represent a protest against the compulsion itself. We show this partly by resort to longitudinal survey data and partly by testing whether previously accepted academic explanations for informality (McAllister and Makkai 1993; Bean 1986) still hold true.

Compulsory voting in Australia: Turnout with and without it

Australian Review of Public Affairs, 2005

In this paper we address claims made by those supporting the abolition of compulsory voting about the relationship between turnout levels and compulsory voting. Via a critique of the methodology used, we query estimations of the effectiveness of compulsory voting laws and dispute common assertions about how high Australian turnout would be under a voluntary system. We then show that projected comparisons with places like Malta, New Zealand and The Netherlands are questionable. We also challenge other projections, that are based on data that has been insufficiently disaggregated. We conclude that when compulsory voting is properly administered in a congenial setting (such as Australia), it is the best means for guaranteeing high and socio-demographically equal rates of voting participation. Without it, Australian democracy would be experiencing the same citizenship crises currently being experienced in most other industrialised, voluntary voting settings.

Compulsory Voting in Australia: A Basis for a Best Practice Regime

Fed. L. Rev., 2004

The author wishes to thank Graeme Orr, George Williams and the anonymous referees for their many helpful suggestions in preparing this paper. She also thanks her able research assistants, Jonathon Louth and Luke Trenwith, for their invaluable assistance. Federal Law Review Volume 32 ____________________________________________________________________________________ participation is important because it serves and enhances a number of fundamental democratic values, among them: popular sovereignty, legitimacy, representativeness, political equality and minimisation of elite power. Advocates of complete and representative turnout often say that the more completely the preferences of the majority are registered, the more democratic and legitimate will be the system. Perhaps the most important value undermined by incomplete participation is political equality or, more specifically, the principle of one vote, one value. Compulsory voting works well to serve such important democratic values. It is also a symbolically powerful democratic mechanism because it signals that the society is, by law, at least, universalistic in nature, and that citizenship is a status to be exercised by everyone regardless of contingent characteristics such as economic status, residential status, educational levels or employment status, and in spite of characteristics irrelevant to the exercise of citizenship rights, such as ethnicity, sex, infirmity or disability. Aside from the general problem of low and declining turnout in advanced democracies, equally worrying is the persistence and widening of the socioeconomic status ('SES') voting gap whereby voting participation is concentrated among the more prosperous members of the polity. Compulsory voting could be a valuable aid in arresting this trend and in the re-establishment and consolidation of civic habits in democracies that are currently experiencing a turnout problem. After the last round of national elections in Europe and North America, interest has grown in compulsory voting as an antidote to the worldwide trend towards civic demobilization, particularly in the form of rapidly decreasing voter turnout. Poor turnout at the American presidential election of 2000 (51.0 per cent) 1 stimulated interest in the mandatory vote 2 while in Canada recently the Chief Electoral Officer, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, announced that he was considering recommending the introduction of compulsory voting as a means by which to ameliorate the problem of low turnout. At Britain's general election of 7 June 2001 only 57.6 per cent of eligible voters cast a vote. This represented a sharp drop from the 1997 and 1992 figures of 69.4 per cent and 75.4 per cent respectively. 3 Alarmed at the possible emergence of a secular trend, the British Electoral Commission considered compulsory voting ('as in Australia') as a means by which turnout could be improved. 4 In November 2001, a Bill sponsored by 10 Labour _____________________________________________________________________________________ 1 This was actually a small improvement on the previous election in 1996 of 49.0 per cent. But it was probably a function of the unusual closeness of the race (Voter Turnout and Mobilization

Above‐the‐line voting in Australia: How democratic?

Representation, 2005

Ever since above-the-line voting was introduced for the Australian Senate in 1984 there has been concern over what happens with preferences under this system. Above-the-line (or ticket) voting means that voters have the option of simply voting '1' in a party box, rather than rank ordering the candidates for election.

Compulsory voting and the promotion of human rights in Australia

Australian Journal of Human Rights, 2017

Under what democratic conditions does the 'vertical accountability' mechanism of voting maximise rights protection? Using an empirically informed political theory approach I argue that the Australian case demonstrates that it does so where compulsory voting laws are in place and are appropriately administered. It achieves this in often unappreciated and undetected ways. I begin by showing how compulsory voting uniquely ensures that the right to vote is transformed from a merely formal to an instantiated, material right; from a right that exists on paper to one that is not only exercisable but also exercised. It does this in a number of ways. First, compulsory voting, as it is practised in Australia, promotes the right to vote itself simply by removing most of the ergonomic, practical and even psychological costs of voting that often deter voters in voluntary regimes. Second, governments elected in compulsory voting elections are more responsive to the needs of all citizens, rather than just the (privileged) subset of citizens that vote in voluntary elections. In turn, this means they are better able (and willing) to protect such rights as the right to equality before the law and the right to be free from discrimination. In promoting these negative rights, compulsory voting also serves a number of positive welfare rights.

Electronic Conduits to Electoral Inclusion in an Atypical Constituency

Advanced Issues and Practices

Due to compulsory voting, Australia’s turnout rate is among the highest and most socially-even in the industrialised world. Nevertheless, some voters are still left behind on election day. In this chapter we examine the potential for E-technologies to address the problem of political exclusion among some currently excluded groups of voters. We canvas known and suspected patterns of such exclusion and, in some cases, suggest possible reasons for it. We review the capacity for electronic forms of voting and registration to address: Low voting and registration levels among indigenous Australians; declining registration levels among the young; restricted access to the secret ballot caused by disability; informal voting among minority language speakers and people with low literacy and numeracy competence; low voting participation among people who experience difficulty in attending a polling place on election day and low voting participation among the Australian diaspora. We begin by prov...