seayork2002

No they can't but a commonwealth citizen can vote in the UK so unfair!

DownUnderPaddy

Consider the suffering endured by millions around the world desparate for the right to vote.

With that in mind, the concept of going to the polling booth to intentionally spoil a vote is frankly, downright selfish and borderline immoral.

If someone really wants to make a statement about how bad the choice is, simply don't vote and take the fine. Better yet, run for office and try to make an actual difference.

It's easy to find fault. It's damn hard to fix it, which is why most of the apathetic set (i.e. Lazy/Greedy/Spoiled) usually don't attempt to try.

MartinLuther

Useless fact #2673

Not many people know this. But in the UK they do know how you vote. The voting slip has a number on it which they write down when you present your polling card.

Pollyana

Hey don't have a go at me, I'm just stating a fact in answer to the question. Personally I can't vote here, and even if I could, I disagree with compulsory voting so would rather pay the fine than turn up.

DownUnderPaddy

Nothing directed at you there Pollyanna.....it was simply the concept of intentional vote spoiling I felt strongly compelled to speak against. Invariably, individuals always need to decide their own course of action.

Anastasia Beaverhausen

Spoiled ballot papers are counted, and that can be an interpreted as abstaining. Abstaining is not immoral or selfish, it it letting the candidates know that you wouldn't vote for any of them.

If you don't show, you just get fined, and that is more likely to be included in statistics in other ways.

For me, it's better to show up and say no rather than stay away.

lapin_windstar

How is it immoral? I think it's immoral that people are threatened with the power of the state if they don't "voluntarily" legitimise the election by voting from a fixed list of candidates. Voter turnout is a sign of voter disengagement with the process and (among other things) that the political parties are failing. If you stifle that warning sign, it's like putting a hood over the cage of the canary in the coal mine.

Liberal democracy is based on choice and a market model of society: that if there's a group of people whose views are not represented by the existing parties, then someone will realise there's an opportunity and move into that space. How is that responsiveness supposed to work if voters have to vote for one of the existing choices?

The current elections are like driving into a small country town where there are only two places to eat: McDonald's (Liberals - same old America-and-the-market-will-fix-everything capitalist nonsense) and Hungry Jack's (Labor - just the same as Maccas but with an Aussie facade).** There's not really much between them and you don't have faith in either. You might well feel like a curry, or a salad, or a lasagne, and so might plenty of other people in town - but the catch is that if anyone tries to leave town without eating anything, the cops will fine them!

** I suppose this makes the Greens the veggie burger option on the HJ's menu.

ex_exile

I agree that everbody should have to cast a vote, yes people have fought and died for it *but* if when you get the polling booth you do not think that any party has earned the right to your vote then you should be allowed to tell them so in whatever words you choose.

dave99

What a load of rubbish, spoiling the paper is the best way to show that there are no worthy candidates to vote for. Why should I have to pay a fine, its not my fault they are all idiots why should I have to pay for that.

lapin_windstar

Who were these people that fought and died for the right to be forced to vote?

ex_exile

Did I say that they fought and died for the right to be forced to vote? I don't think so. Punctuation my dear boy.

People have fought and died for the right to vote and continue to fight and die for fair votes and fair elections.

lapin_windstar

You might not have meant to but you did. The "it" refers to 'having to cast a vote'.
Unless, perhaps, like Tony Abbott you don't necessarily want people to take notice of what you say?

PS: there should be a comma between "punctuation" and "my" in your second sentence.