compulsory voting in australia essay

Australia’s experience of compulsory voting — and what it tells us about democratic fragility and resilience

Matteo Bonotti and Paul Strangio

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In August 2021, the federal parliament passed several government bills reforming Australia’s electoral system. Almost as notable as the reforms enshrined in that legislation was what changes the Morrison government chose not to touch. The previous December, the Coalition-controlled Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) handed down its report on the 2019 federal election. It contained a slew of recommendations for electoral reform — among the most controversial was the replacement of compulsory preferential voting with optional preferential voting. That recommendation was condemned by both the Labor Party and Greens in their minority JSCEM reports . Labor described the recommendation for optional preferential voting as an “attack on compulsory voting”, which was “the cornerstone of Australian democracy”.

The Morrison government has apparently decided that a fight over optional preferential voting, especially if that measure could be construed by opponents as a weakening of Australia’s compulsory voting regime, wasn’t worth it at this time. It is another reminder of how deeply entrenched compulsory voting is in Australia.

Compulsory voting has a century-long history in this nation. Not only is it a durable feature of Australian democracy, but it is universally applied. Whenever an election is called, whether it be at the national, state or territory level, voters are obliged to turn out at pain of being fined or, in the last resort, being gaoled for failure to comply.

Though not unique to this country (around 15 per cent of democracies have mandatory voting), there are several features of Australia’s experience of compulsory voting that render it distinctive:

• How longstanding is the practice: of those countries that currently legally oblige voting only Belgium, Argentina, and Luxembourg predate Australia’s adoption of the practice.
• Australia is alone in embracing compulsory voting among the Anglophone democracies to which it typically compares itself. The electoral systems of Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States are all based on voluntary voting.
• Unlike many other compulsory voting countries, Australia does not pay lip service to its operation. Compulsory voting is enforced by electoral authorities and has been strongly upheld by the courts.
• Compulsory voting has had a consistent unambiguous success in achieving high rates of voter turnout. Though there has been a slight downturn in voter turnout at the past three national elections, it has never fallen below 90 per cent since the introduction of compulsory voting a century ago.
• Perhaps most remarkable is how broadly supportive of the practice has been the public. This has been demonstrated by any number of public opinion polls and decades of Australian Election Study survey data. The latter shows that support for the practice has consistently hovered around 70 per cent.

Because it is so much part of the furniture of Australian politics it is easy to overlook the importance of compulsory voting. In our book, A Century of Compulsory Voting in Australia , which includes contributions by emerging and leading scholars in the field, we explore that significance at a national level but also pose whether the Australian experience of compulsory voting has lessons at a time when democratic politics is under pressure internationally.

What, then, is the importance of compulsory voting in Australia?

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The practice of Australian democracy

Analysing the practice of compulsory voting in Australia can provide us with a better understanding of Australia’s democracy and of its political and legal system, especially if one considers the historical roots of the practice. Indeed, the adoption of compulsory voting in Australia can be traced back to a political culture characterised by strong majoritarian and bureaucratic dimensions, which emerged during the colonial era of the nineteenth century. There was also a proclivity to electoral experimentation as well as a desire to counterbalance the votes of more extreme partisans with those of more moderate and reputable citizens.

But the importance of compulsory voting for Australian democracy can perhaps only be fully appreciated if one also considers how resilient the practice has been to various forms of opposition throughout its history. What explains that resilience? For a start, compulsory voting is in tune with Australia’s majoritarian national political temperament, and its role within Australia’s democratic system has been bolstered by path dependency. Furthermore, opposition to the practice, which primarily manifested itself within the Liberal Party between the 1980s and the 2000s, has never reached a majority position on the right-of-centre side of the political spectrum. Moreover, Australian authorities have generally been lenient in enforcing compulsory voting and this, combined with the continued and pervasive public support for it, as well as ongoing support by the courts , has contributed to its longevity.

It is also important to stress that opposition to compulsory voting in Australia has almost always relied on rather abstract arguments that fail to have a broad appeal among citizens, especially in view of compulsory voting’s tangible benefits — not least, high voter turnout. These arguments include the view that compulsory voting represents an undue encroachment on individual liberty; that it is not necessary to guarantee high electoral turnout; that it is undemocratic; that it infringes upon people’s “right not to vote”; that it has a negative effect upon the conduct and organisation of Australia’s political parties; and that by mobilising many disengaged voters it can potentially harm Australian democracy.

Not only has none of these arguments managed to gain traction within the Australian electorate; each of them also fails to withstand careful scrutiny and to provide good reasons for repealing compulsory voting in Australia.

Public opinion and political knowledge

But compulsory voting is important not only because it sheds a light on Australia’s political history and culture. Besides its tangible effects on voter turnout, it also has important implications for public opinion and political knowledge in Australia — although empirical evidence in this area is more complex and, sometimes, more puzzling than what observers might have thought for some time.

Consider public support for compulsory voting in Australia, which, we have already stressed, has been continuous and pervasive since the practice was introduced in 1924. What exactly is its level of popularity among Australians? Empirical data show that this level is high, having remained above 64 per cent since data were first collected in 1967, and averaging 70 per cent since 1987. Furthermore, and contrary to what is often assumed, compulsory voting does not result in any apparent electoral advantage for any specific political party. It is also important to highlight that most Australians (around 80 per cent in 2019, after an 89 per cent peak in 2007) declare that they would be willing to vote even under a voluntary voting system. However, data also show that this willingness is not evenly distributed across the Australian electorate — for example, it has decreased among women since 2007 and increased among younger voters in recent years.

Yet, the relationship between young voters and compulsory voting is more multifaceted than this general picture may suggest. Specifically, recent data show that in spite of compulsory voting’s overall popularity in Australia, turnout has been lower than average in certain seats over the past two decades. These include seats in remote areas characterised by high rates of Indigenous population — confirming a longstanding low participation trend among Indigenous Australians, rooted in past racist exclusionary policies — as well as relatively prosperous inner urban seats in Melbourne and Sydney, where many highly educated young people are concentrated. This latter pattern may foretell a potential weakening in the public’s support for compulsory voting and it hints at a tension between professed level of support for compulsory voting among young Australians, as suggested by opinion surveys, and their actual eagerness to turn out to vote.

Another claim often advanced with regard to compulsory voting, especially in countries where it does not exist yet but some advocate its introduction, is that it would encourage citizens — including young voters — to engage more with, and acquire a better understanding of, the political system. Has this been the case in Australia? Unfortunately, the empirical research in this area is insufficient or inconclusive . In fact, young Australian voters do not seem to be particularly more knowledgeable about political matters than their counterparts in voluntary voting systems, partly due to disinterest, inadequate educational resources, and misinformation.

Political legitimacy

Compulsory voting, in Australia and beyond, also continues to raise important normative questions. Indeed, political scientists and legal scholars have over the years advanced several arguments in support of the practice, claiming, for example, that compulsory voting renders political systems more representative of the overall population and that it discourages political extremism by bringing out the moderate vote. In fact, these arguments have a long pedigree, and can even be traced back to debates over compulsory voting in Belgium and France at the turn of the twentieth century.

However, less attention has been paid in these debates to the contribution that compulsory voting can make to political legitimacy — which is to say, the rightful exercise of political power. Political legitimacy is often traced back to a set of procedural standards, which are centred around the value of political equality and demand that all citizens have an equal opportunity to form and express well-informed preferences, as well as to have a final say on decision-making. Compulsory voting can help to realise political legitimacy better than voluntary-voting systems, thanks to its easy use and accessibility, its ability to produce high and socially even turnout, and its propensity to often (though not always, as we’ve already pointed out) encourage greater levels of information, attention, and critical engagement among the public.

Furthermore, compulsory voting can also contribute to political legitimacy understood in a slightly different way — namely, as the idea that laws and policies are politically legitimate only if they are justified by appealing to reasons that all citizens can accept at some level of idealisation. More specifically, in a parliamentary democracy like Australia, compulsory voting can contribute to public reasoning and political legitimacy by compelling public officials to pay great attention to a broad range of worldviews, interests, and demands, and, based on that information, provide reasons for laws and policies that appeal to the common good rather than to any specific sectarian interests.

A cure for what ails democracy?

Democracies, it is often argued, are in crisis. Declining voter turnout, growing institutional distrust, the breakdown of traditional party systems, and the emergence of populist leaders and policies, have led some scholars, commentators, and politicians to suggest that compulsory voting may be one of the remedies to this malaise. Even former US President Barack Obama has praised Australia’s compulsory system and suggested that the adoption of this practice in the United States would have a “transformative” effect on its political system. And indeed, there is an ongoing debate in the United States and Canada regarding the possibility and desirability of introducing compulsory voting, and the implications that such an introduction would have for the two polities. Similar debates can also be found in the UK and New Zealand.

Whether compulsory voting offers a solution to the crisis of democracy, however, remains unclear. While the practice in Australia has contributed to preventing political polarisation and encouraging moderation , there is also evidence that Australian citizens are less trusting of their country’s political and democratic processes. Therefore, it is uncertain whether compulsory voting will be sufficient to shield Australia from the crisis of democracy in the long term and, therefore, whether other countries should follow Australia in embracing this practice.

Matteo Bonotti is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Monash University.

Paul Strangio is Associate Professor of Politics in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University.

They are the co-editors of A Century of Compulsory Voting in Australia: Genesis, Impact and Future .

You can hear Paul Strangio discuss compulsory voting and Australia ’s democratic culture with Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens on The Minefield .

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Compulsion Emboldens Democracy: A Deep-dive into Australia’s Mandatory Voting

Australia is currently in the midst of deep political debate—Australia’s citizens are set to vote in a significant referendum near the end of 2023 to determine whether the constitution will be amended to include Indigenous voices . The importance of the issue is underlined by the voting policies established in Australia —people will have to voice their opinions. In Australia, referendums are treated similar to elections: they are mandatory to vote in.

After turning 18 , every Australian is required to show up at the voting station unless a sufficient reason for not voting is provided. Historically, Australia has had impressively high voter turnout numbers after they implemented the compulsory voting practice in 1924 . Since the institution of mandatory voting, Australia has always had more than 90 percent of eligible voters show up at the booths. In general elections , the numbers are similar: Australia has always had more than 89 percent of voters participate in the election after the implementation of mandatory voting.

The upcoming referendum once again opens the question: how do they achieve such high rates?

The turnout rates are not simply due to a requirement by law, but rather because of the means they provide to truly achieve it.

Availability of Citizens

Firstly, the Australian referendum or election day is on a Saturday . For context, the largest reason behind why people did not vote in the 2022 election of the United States was cited to be busy schedules on election day—a Tuesday . The lack of free time people have on election days around the world is a significant reason behind the lower turnout. One justification behind why the United States elections were set to be on a Tuesday in the 18th century is because most of America was rural and needed time to travel to the booths, a process that could take days.

In the modern world, most people do not work in agriculture . With the rise of employment in services and industry, the vast majority of the population works during the weekdays: Monday to Friday. People are only likely to vote if they have the time in their day to go to a polling booth and spend time casting a ballot. On a weekday, some people are tired after work and would rather go home to rest for the next day instead of standing in a long line to vote (often in the heat) or have other priorities in their mind like picking up their children from day-care or taking their children to classes; they quite simply do not have the referendum or election on their mind. Many cannot just take time off of work to vote, especially individuals that depend on each and every paycheck to pay the bills and provide food on the table for their families. The cash flow for many, justifiably, matters more than a vote. The theoretical argument of work impeding the ability for many to vote is an issue in many countries including Germany . On the other hand, the weekend offers Australian citizens a chance to truly consider the issue being discussed in the referendum or research the candidates in an election instead of making it an afterthought. Moreover, they guarantee paid time off for individuals to vote, which provides a higher chance that citizens are available to participate instead of being bystanders to a crucial democratic process in their country.

The Mindset

Election day in Australia has become a day for celebration instead of a task people unwillingly complete. For example, polling booths across Australia host fundraising stands from various local groups that sell snacks like “Democratic Sausages” : a tradition that motivates people (young and old) to vote because it serves as a place for gathering. Through developments, booths began offering more options including vegetarian food to create a more inclusive social event around elections. The existence of activities surrounding the elections can help to create a positive mindset towards the voting process and reduce the likelihood of individuals resenting the compulsory nature of the voting process. The mindset that is established is crucial when approaching elections since people ought to want to vote to create a strong system that prioritizes selecting the best leaders.

Accessibility

Besides the day of the week or the culture established, voting booths in Australia are much more accessible than many countries on an intuitive level. For starters, individuals can go to any polling location in the state/territory that they reside in. This is comparatively different to countries like the United Kingdom where you are required to vote at the specific polling booth listed on your poll card. The lack of flexibility means individuals are often less likely to vote since their assigned polling stations may have longer lines, their workplace might not be close to their specific polling station, or they simply find it to be a burden to vote in their local station. Australia also takes into account travelers . If citizens are in a different territory/country during the time of the vote, they can visit an interstate/overseas voting center or submit a postal vote if they cannot reach the center to vote.

Extending on that idea, Australia has taken extensive action to ensure most people have the opportunity to vote—even the most disadvantaged. For example, they have instituted policies that allow for telephone voting, an option that is specifically targeted to help individuals that “have low vision.” Additionally, to access areas that do not have a polling booth near them, Australia has mobile polling teams that visit remote areas and residential care facilities: an action that increases the ability for people across Australia to represent their views in government regardless of where they live. As a matter of fact, in the face of the upcoming referendum to determine whether the constitution gets amended, the Australian Election Commision has stated that they will be increasing the amount of polling teams that go to healthcare facilities to create more inclusivity. The decision to provide polling teams furthers the likelihood that the most vulnerable individuals are given a chance to vote.

Furthermore, if people cannot vote on the day of the referendum or election, Australia allows people to vote early . Early voting ensures that citizens have more freedom to vote and have many more chances to cast a ballot even if they are busy on the official voting day. For a whole country, one day of voting is often not enough to account for the differing lives of every individual. Compare this to countries around the world like France where early voting or absentee voting is not offered—a mechanism that decreases the likelihood that individuals can vote as demonstrated by the data from different parts of the United States in the 2012 election.

Expanding to Democracies Around the World

As a direct comparison to the turnout at past Australian referendums , the United Kingdom’s referendum to leave the European Union only had a 72.2 percent voter turnout. The lack of voter turnout appears to plague many of the most prominent countries in the world. In India , 67.4 percent of eligible voters voted in the 2019 election. In the United States , 66.8 percent of eligible voters went to the booths in the 2020 election. To further prove the lack of voter turnout, Canada had a 62.6 percent turnout in the 2021 elections. Democratic governments are founded upon the people’s voice, but when nearly a third of the population is left out of the consideration in a country, it is hard to call the country democratic.

Australia’s model, which will be on display in the upcoming referendum, could possibly serve as a mechanism by which to increase participation across the world; however, transposing the Australian voting system to democratic systems across the world requires a conversation within the respective countries among its citizens and the government on the way in which it is implemented.

A common argument made against accessible elections is the possibility of voter fraud and the reduction in democratic security; the potential trade-off requires a consideration about the different mechanisms that should be implemented to achieve both simultaneously instead of having to comprise one. In Australia , voter fraud was found to be fairly low because of the methods they have instituted behind the scenes to confirm votes and to reduce the likelihood of fraud including digital cross-referencing. On the surface, voting is largely accessible, but the intensive review process provides security on the back-end: accessibility and security do not have to be mutually exclusive.

The benefits of compulsory voting does not mean the implementation can be completely uniform. Voters in every country often go through personal struggles that limit their ability to vote, do not agree with any of the candidates running for election, which might necessitate the need for blank ballots to be an option for citizens as a sign of protest, or simply cannot afford the punishments that would ensue if they are unable to vote. So while the system is rigid, it ought to be fluid enough for people to avoid being trapped: they cannot vote, and when they do not, they cannot afford the punishment. The ultimate goal of compulsory voting is to maximize the amount of people interested in the voting process—not contribute to people loathing it because of the punishments they face.

When implementing a voting system, countries have to seriously consider the difficulties citizens face when attempting to vote in their country. Who are those citizens? The people who work on weekends because they do not make enough for a two-day break might require a national holiday; the people who live in areas that do not have polling stations nearby; the people who need access to public transportation to reach the booths; the people who are simply disinterested in the democratic process because of a lack of political education, or even the people who are unaware about voter registration. Implementing drastic policy change requires intensive policy analysis to ensure people do not get left out of consideration.

In the end, regardless of the voting model adopted by countries across the world, the bottom line is clear: the means for people to vote in an election are crucial for higher voting rates.

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Chapter 5: Compulsory voting - for and against

The main arguments for and against compulsory voting in Australia can be organised into six opposed pairs.

1. Citizenship, duties and rights

2. legitimate representation, 3. political education, 6. responsiveness, questions for discussion.

• Is the low turnout in some voluntary local government elections a cause for concern?
• Would it be of concern if Australia reverted to voluntary voting and experienced similarly low turnouts in federal and state elections?
• Do you think the political parties’ positions on compulsory voting have more to do with principle or trying to win government?

Exeter, Devon UK • Oct 25, 2024  • VOL XII

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What can we learn from the impact of compulsory voting in Australia?

C ompulsory voting is a hugely contentious issue; for its opponents it flies in the face of every principle of democracy, yet for its supporters it is a vital way of engaging the maximum number of citizens in the democratic process. Whilst the theoretical debate about whether forcing people to vote is compatible with democratic principles is interesting, it is meaningless without a discussion of whether compulsory voting actually works. In other words; does compulsory voting considerably raise the level of political awareness amongst a nation’s electorate? If it does, then it seems that concerns about its compatibility with democracy can be overlooked, if it does not then it serves little purpose as a political tool. My experience in Australia so far has led me to the conclusion that compulsory voting is an ineffective policy in terms of encouraging political participation.

Parliament House, Australia. Image: Pixabay

The first thing to note about compulsory voting is how effective it is in terms of the number of people turning out to vote; in the most recent election 94% of Australians turned out to vote. In the UK, turnout hovers at 60-65%. Not only this, when speaking to other students I frequently heard complaints of people queuing – for hours to cast their ballot; something which anyone who has voted in the UK will be surprised to hear. The fine for abstention is $20; despite being such a small amount, a small financial penalty seems to be enough to get the vast majority of the population voting. At first glance, then, compulsory voting appears to be a highly effective, low-cost method of raising political participation. However, the full story of political participation goes far beyond turning up and casting a vote. Voting means very little unless people have made a conscious decision to vote for a particular party or candidate. Simply ticking a randomly-selected box cannot be counted as true political participation. In order for compulsory voting to be deemed effective, it must encourage people who usually have little interest in politics to begin to engage with political debate and make informed choices.

Unfortunately, compulsory voting of the kind practiced in Australia does little to encourage this; whilst the fine creates a financial incentive to vote, there is still little reason – beyond personal interest – for people to invest a significant amount of time educating themselves about the political system. Unsurprisingly, then, there are many signs of uninformed voting in Australian elections. The first of these is the relatively high number of spoilt ballots. A spoilt ballot is one which cannot be counted because it has been incorrectly filled out, deliberately or accidently, in some way. Examples include selecting too many candidates, writing a message on the paper or scribbling over the ballot. In the last general election in the UK, spoilt ballots made up for 0.3% of votes cast; in Australia, by contrast, the figure was close to 5%. There are several possible explanations for this difference. Australians may simply be much less able at filling out ballot papers than UK citizens. Although the voting system in Australia is marginally more complex – requiring voters to rank candidates – there is no reason to believe that Australians are uniquely unable to fill out a ballot paper.

A more persuasive explanation is that many of these spoilt ballots are protest votes. Whilst in the UK, citizens who are dissatisfied with the selection of candidates on offer can freely choose not to vote, this is not an option for Australians. Most people are not willing to pay $20 to protest against the options available to them and will thus turn up to vote but register their dissatisfaction by writing a message or scribbling on the ballot. In this case, voters are politically engaged enough to realise that they do not want to vote for any of the candidates, and forcing them to turn up and vote only constitutes a waste of time and resources. The final option is that disinterested voters cannot be bothered to even choose a candidate at random and just fill in the ballot with a scribble, or leave it blank, to avoid the $20 fine. In this case, there is no increase in political engagement and forcing these people to turn up is again a waste of resources. It is likely that a combination of the previous two explanations drives the high level of spoilt ballots in Australia; in both cases, forcing these people to vote only contributes to a greater number of spoilt ballots and does nothing to increase substantive engagement in the politics of the state. However, even discounting the 5% spoilt ballots as wasted resources, participation is far higher in Australia than in the UK. If the remaining voters are more engaged as a result of compulsory voting then it should be regarded as a successful policy.

Despite seeming attractive at first glance, compulsory voting is a political mirage

Sadly this is not the case; the Australian electoral system works on a preferential basis, allowing voters to rank candidates. This system opens up the possibility of another form of disinterested voting, more dangerous than a spoilt ballot: donkey voting. Donkey voting refers to the practice of voters ranking candidates in an order which has nothing to do with their preferences; voters may rank candidates from top to bottom, vice versa, or in alphabetical order. Although there is a chance that, for some voters, their preferences genuinely happen to line up in this way, donkey voting is generally seen as a sign of a lack of interest or knowledge on behalf of the voter. It is difficult to estimate the exact proportion of the electorate who cast donkey votes, but it is estimated to be at least 2%. Just as with those who spoil their ballots, voters who donkey vote display no interest in the political system and forcing them to vote does nothing to combat political apathy. In fact, donkey votes are far worse than spoilt ballots because they register as votes for the parties in question. Whilst spoilt ballots are not counted, the preferences expressed in donkey votes are taken to be legitimate votes. Donkey voting therefore leads to parties gaining votes from people who may not even support them. This outcome stands in direct contradiction to the aim of spreading democratic participation.

Voting booths in Melbourne, Image: WikiCommons

The simple fact is that the kind of person who only votes to avoid a $20 fine is not the kind of person to dedicate time to following the intricacies of political life. This point is made clear by the fact that political apathy in Australia is following in the same footsteps as other Western nations such as the UK and US. Talking to Australians about politics, I get the same sense of despair that is endemic across Western nations. Just as in the UK, people decry an out of touch elite who are failing to address people’s everyday concerns. More worryingly, the populist far right, with its narrative of challenging the status quo, is just as popular in Australia as it is across Europe and America. Despite voting being compulsory, Australians are just as apathetic towards the politics system as their European counterparts and just as likely to turn, uninformed, to the populism of the far right.

Despite seeming attractive at first glance, compulsory voting is a political mirage. Unexamined, it appears to massively increase political participation, forcing citizens to take in interest in politics. Yet on closer inspection, compulsory voting does very little to combat the underlying apathy of citizens. Political engagement is far more than casting a vote; it involves taking an interest in the politics of the nation, formulating opinions on how the world should be and voting according to these principles. Australia’s negative system of punishment for non-voting does nothing to encourage this approach. Only a positive approach which makes politics relevant to people’s lives can foster the kind of substantive interest in politics that is vital for meaningful democratic participation.

George Siddons

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A Century of Compulsory Voting in Australia

Genesis, Impact and Future

• © 2021
• Matteo Bonotti 0 ,
• Paul Strangio 1

Politics and International Relations, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

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• Presents an interdisciplinary analysis of Australia’s century-old experience of compulsory voting
• Offers a comparative analysis of compulsory voting in Australia with past and current experiences and debates on compulsory voting in Europe and North America
• Asks whether there is a relationship between compulsory voting and democratic well-being
• Questions if Australia’s experience of compulsory voting is instructive in an era when democratic politics is under pressure globally

Part of the book series: Elections, Voting, Technology (EVT)

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The United Kingdom Parliamentary Voting System Referendum of 2011

The Elections of 2020

Reason Without Vote: The Representative and Majoritarian Function of Constitutional Courts

• Compulsory voting in Australia
• Compulsory voting in Europe
• Compulsory voting in North America
• Voter turnout
• Ethics of voting
• Political representation
• Crisis of Democracy
• Democratic Theory
• National Election Participation in Australia
• Political Knowledge in Australia
• Objections to Compulsory Voting
• Representation and the Moderation Thesis
• North American perspectives on compulsory voting
• Australian Democracy
• Voting in Australia

Table of contents (12 chapters)

Front matter, introduction.

Matteo Bonotti, Paul Strangio

How Australia Got Compulsory Voting

• Judith Brett

‘A Lonely and Quixotic Battle’: A Short History of Agitation Against Compulsory Voting in Australia

• Paul Strangio

Assessing Objections to Compulsory Voting in Australia

• Lachlan Montgomery Umbers

Public Opinion and Compulsory Voting in Australia

• Jill Sheppard

Non-participation in Australian National Elections: Fault-Lines in the Compulsory Voting Consensus

• Nicholas Economou

Becoming an Informed Voter: Compulsory Voting and Developing Political Knowledge in Australia

• Zareh Ghazarian, Jacqueline Laughland-Booÿ

‘Choice of the Manner in Which Thou Wilt Die’: The Australian Courts on Compulsory Voting

Compulsory voting: activating the demos and enhancing procedural democracy in australia, public reason, compulsory voting and australian democracy.

• Matteo Bonotti

More Representation, Less Radicalism: How Compulsory Voting Was Defended in Europe

• Anthoula Malkopoulou

Compulsory Voting: The View from Canada and the United States

• Shane P. Singh, Neil S. Williams

Back Matter

Editors and affiliations, about the editors, bibliographic information.

Book Title : A Century of Compulsory Voting in Australia

Book Subtitle : Genesis, Impact and Future

Editors : Matteo Bonotti, Paul Strangio

Series Title : Elections, Voting, Technology

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4025-1

Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan Singapore

eBook Packages : Political Science and International Studies , Political Science and International Studies (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021

Hardcover ISBN : 978-981-33-4024-4 Published: 14 March 2021

Softcover ISBN : 978-981-33-4027-5 Published: 15 March 2022

eBook ISBN : 978-981-33-4025-1 Published: 13 March 2021

Series ISSN : 2945-7610

Series E-ISSN : 2945-7629

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XV, 272

Number of Illustrations : 11 b/w illustrations, 2 illustrations in colour

Topics : Democracy , Political Philosophy , Constitutional Law , Political Theory , Political History

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Pros and Cons of Compulsory Voting

Australia is well-known for its compulsory voting laws

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Over 20 countries have some form of compulsory voting, which requires citizens to register to vote and go to their polling place or vote on Election Day .  

With secret ballots, it's not really possible to prove who has or has not voted, so this process could be more accurately called "compulsory turnout" because voters are required to show up at their polling place on Election Day.

Facts About Compulsory Voting

One of the most well-known compulsory voting systems is in Australia. All Australian citizens over the age of 18 (except those of unsound mind or those convicted of serious crimes) must be registered to vote and show up at their designated polling place on Election Day. Australians who do not abide by this directive are subject to fines, although those who were ill or otherwise incapable of voting can have their fines waived.  

Compulsory voting in Australia was adopted in the state of Queensland in 1915 and subsequently adopted nationwide in 1924. With Australia's compulsory voting system comes additional flexibility for the voter. Elections are held on Saturdays, absent voters can vote in any state polling place, and voters in remote areas can vote before an election at pre-poll voting centers or via mail.  

Voter turnout of those registered to vote in Australia reached less than 60% prior to the 1924 compulsory voting law.   In the decades since 1925, voter turnout has never been less than 91%.  

In 1924, Australian officials felt that compulsory voting would eliminate voter apathy. However, compulsory voting now has its detractors. The Australian Electoral Commission provides some arguments in favor of and against compulsory voting.

Arguments in Favor

• Voting is a civic duty comparable to other duties citizens perform (e.g. taxation, compulsory education, or jury duty).
• Parliament reflects more accurately the "will of the electorate."
• Governments must consider the total electorate in policy formulation and management.
• Candidates can concentrate their campaigning energies on issues, rather than encouraging voters to attend the poll.
• The voter isn't actually compelled to vote for anyone because voting is by secret ballot.

Arguments Used Against Compulsory Voting

• Some suggest that it is undemocratic to force people to vote and is an infringement of liberty.
• The "ignorant" and those with little interest in politics are forced to the polls.
• It may increase the number of "donkey votes" (votes for a random candidate by people who feel that they are required to vote by law).
• It may increase the number of informal votes (ballot papers that are not marked according to the rules for voting).
• Resources must be allocated to determine whether those who failed to vote have "valid and sufficient" reasons.

Additional References

"Compulsory Voting." Australian Electoral Commission, May 18, 2011.

" Appendix G - Countries With Compulsory Voting ." Parliament of Australia.

" Enrolling to Vote ." Australian Electoral Commission.

" Voting Before Election Day ." Australian Electoral Commission.

Barber, Stephen. " Federal Election Results 1901-2016 ." Parliament of Australia, 31 Mar. 2017.

" Voter Turnout - 2016 House of Representatives and Senate Elections ." Australian Electoral Commission.

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