(Editor’s note: The author is a longtime communications strategist and political commentator. He served as chief political director for former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, now Australian ambassador to the United States.)–eeb
By Bruce Hawker
SYDNEY, Australia | Mandatory elections in Australia are largely uncontroversial. People sometimes complain at being required to vote, but returning to voluntary voting is not on the political agenda for the major parties.
Hawker
Election day in Australia at state and federal elections is always on a Saturday. There is usually a somewhat festive feeling at polling places (generally in schools) with school fetes and sausage sizzles common.
Because voting is compulsory there is no need for “get out the vote” campaigns.
It is easy to vote here. People can vote on the day, or by post or for several weeks prior to the election at special polling places. There are also plenty of polling places. All these factors tend to reduce opposition to compulsory voting.
One very important effect of compulsory voting is that the major parties cannot just rely on agitating their base to maximize their vote. Instead, they are forced to appeal to the political middle ground to get the support of voters who may not be excited by either party. This means that the major parties are more centrist and moderate than they would otherwise be if they were principally reliant on their committed base in order to win.
Here, for example, programs like Medicare (our national compulsory health insurance scheme) are always supported by both parties. Similarly, no party could hope to win the support of women voters if they had a policy to ban abortions. So, compulsory voting tends to inject a level of sanity and moderation to politics.
Another interesting fact is that it is counter-intuitive. It was a conservative government that introduced compulsory voting in 1924. In those years there was a level of complacency among conservative voters which depressed their vote. On top of that, the Labor Party vote was enhanced by highly organized labor unions which ensured that their members got out the vote.
The fine for not voting in Australia ranges from $20 at federal elections to $92 for elections in Victoria. For example, in NSW the fine is $55 and in Queensland it is $65. Interestingly, despite the difference in fines, across all Australian states and territories the voting level is at about 95 percent. At a federal level the voting level was about 90 percent at the last election in 2022. This was down by a couple of percent.
In the Northern Territory at the last federal election there was a lower level of compliance in rural areas. This is largely because the NT has a higher percentage of Aboriginal voters, many of whom live in remote communities. Some of them are also semi-nomadic.
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