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by kylebyproxy 1747 days ago
Compulsory voting in an unengaged populace can only serve to lower signal-to-noise ratio. How many times do we need to relearn "garbage in, garbage out"? The responsible ballot choice when uninformed is "abstain". AFAIA, Australia doesn't provide that option.

Also, the intransigent moderates you mentioned create inertia biased toward status quo and inhibits appropriate policy action and change (see e.g. the slow-moving trainwreck of climate destabilization).
2 comments
dane-pgp 1747 days ago
> AFAIA, Australia doesn't provide that option.

To be precise, there isn't a specific "Abstain" option on the ballot paper, but it is perfectly legal to leave the ballot blank. After all, if they could trace blank ballots back to the voter to punish them, it wouldn't be a secret ballot.

For context, "informal votes" (i.e. those votes which are rejected at the counting stage) have typically accounted for less than 5% of votes cast, and blank votes were about 20% of the votes cast in the 2001 federal election[0]. That suggests that about 1% of the population is "abstaining" in this way.

[0] https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joi...

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kylebyproxy 1747 days ago
Ooo that's interesting! I stand educated; thanks for sharing that.
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8note 1747 days ago
Voting at all in an unegaged populace is bad. Might as well just have a dictator
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ErikVandeWater 1747 days ago
This is pretty disrespectful to people actually living under dictatorships.
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kylebyproxy 1747 days ago
Sic aside, I don't follow your line of reasoning. Care to elaborate?
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spaginal 1747 days ago
Disengaged voters will simply vote for the current leadership or loudest guy, typically the same thing, without a thought towards the issues.

Strongmen love compulsory voting, it creates a false perception of legitimacy, because corruption or no corruption, if only 30% of a population is engaged in the issues and the other 70% could give two shits, that is a slamdunk for incumbents.

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Aerroon 1747 days ago
There's some evidence for this. Chile adopted voluntary voting in 2012. According to this study[0] this decreased the incumbent's advantage in the elections that follower.

[0] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-political-s...

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kylebyproxy 1747 days ago
Agreed on all points.

Parent's assertion that "Voting at all in an unegaged populace is bad." still rubs me the wrong way.

Why discount the votes of engaged individuals just because the masses aren't? Baby, bath water, etc.

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