Actually a great question, and the answer isn’t necessarily obvious for someone who hasn’t had experience with compulsory voting.
The effect of compulsory voting is that voter suppression techniques (discouraging people from wanting to vote, making it hard for certain people to vote, etc.), like the ones being discussed here become impossible. The AEC has to make it easy for every Australian to vote, and the government has to fund them appropriately to be able to do that. Elections are always held on a Saturday, to ensure the maximum amount of people can vote on the day. Prepolling is also extremely easy for people who can’t make it on the day. Most people do have a preference one way or the other, even if that preference isn’t enough to get out and vote normally. By making it compulsory, even those people will have their say. You can’t run a campaign designed less to make yourself seem good than to simply make people think it’s not worth the effort of voting. You have to actually convince people yes, you are the better option.
Yes, some people still choose to give an informal vote (often unofficially referred to as “spoiling” their ballot). Putting a blank ballot in the box, or writing something you think is funny, or drawing a penis on the ballot, are popular examples of deliberate informal votes. In 2022, we had a voter turnout of 89.82% of enrolled voters. Of those, just 5.19% ballots were informal. It’s impossible to know how many of the informal ballots were mistakes by the voter versus deliberately “spoilt” ballots. But that’s a total formal vote of 85.16% of enrolled voters. Compare that to the UK’s 67.3% turnout at the last UK general election and the difference is stark. Think also that the percentage of eligible voters who are enrolled to vote in Australia is much higher than in the UK, again due to the compulsory vote, and the difference becomes even more significant.
Actually a great question, and the answer isn’t necessarily obvious for someone who hasn’t had experience with compulsory voting.
The effect of compulsory voting is that voter suppression techniques (discouraging people from wanting to vote, making it hard for certain people to vote, etc.), like the ones being discussed here become impossible. The AEC has to make it easy for every Australian to vote, and the government has to fund them appropriately to be able to do that. Elections are always held on a Saturday, to ensure the maximum amount of people can vote on the day. Prepolling is also extremely easy for people who can’t make it on the day. Most people do have a preference one way or the other, even if that preference isn’t enough to get out and vote normally. By making it compulsory, even those people will have their say. You can’t run a campaign designed less to make yourself seem good than to simply make people think it’s not worth the effort of voting. You have to actually convince people yes, you are the better option.
Yes, some people still choose to give an informal vote (often unofficially referred to as “spoiling” their ballot). Putting a blank ballot in the box, or writing something you think is funny, or drawing a penis on the ballot, are popular examples of deliberate informal votes. In 2022, we had a voter turnout of 89.82% of enrolled voters. Of those, just 5.19% ballots were informal. It’s impossible to know how many of the informal ballots were mistakes by the voter versus deliberately “spoilt” ballots. But that’s a total formal vote of 85.16% of enrolled voters. Compare that to the UK’s 67.3% turnout at the last UK general election and the difference is stark. Think also that the percentage of eligible voters who are enrolled to vote in Australia is much higher than in the UK, again due to the compulsory vote, and the difference becomes even more significant.
I was not expecting this answer. Thanks, it’s actually made me rethink my views on the matter. 🙏