About normal for local elections; general elections are higher, but it's still a minority of the population that votes.
Again, this is an area where I think that Australia has the right attitude. Voting should be seen as a public responsibility (in addition to a right), and I'm in favour of compulsory voting provided that the voting mechanism itself is changed to allow either STV or a 'none of the above' option.
There are those who claim that withholding your vote is a democratic right, and is an indication of one's dissatisfaction with the electoral process or candidates, but I think that they're mostly a bunch of apathetic whingers.
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zvi and
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Date: 2007-05-04 10:20 am (UTC)Again, this is an area where I think that Australia has the right attitude. Voting should be seen as a public responsibility (in addition to a right), and I'm in favour of compulsory voting provided that the voting mechanism itself is changed to allow either STV or a 'none of the above' option.
There are those who claim that withholding your vote is a democratic right, and is an indication of one's dissatisfaction with the electoral process or candidates, but I think that they're mostly a bunch of apathetic whingers.