Australia is voting today!

Yes, that is a new one on me as well, compulsory voting, like income tax! That took me a many minutes to contemplate. Are you given an option of "None of the above" if there is no one you want to vote for? I heard many don't vote here in the united states, and I am tempted to say I understand for the federal offices but for the more local offices I think it is more important to be counted. It is like the people here not paying when they use the light rail, stealing from the service and causing everyone else's costs to go up because of their irresponsibility.

I have dome my bit for Australia today...I just hope I voted for the right person/people coz as far as I can see, we are just voting for someone else to ruin our country...I got it over & done with early because I hate voting...I sometimes wish I had never enrolled to vote.

hi Rawbill I think that is fantastic and wish here in the US we did have it compulsory as then we would get a true vote of all our p;eople not just the few of us who think we should vote and make our voices heard. tthe majority of Americans are lazy and do not vote but will complain bitterly when people are elected whom they do not feel should be in office.I will say then you should have voted instead of just complaining now about it.

Hi Bill, no it is not compulsory here. I don't vote but know that i should. I have never voted but once in my life & that's been years & years ago. I can't gripe since i don't vote lol but i still do sometimes. Happy weekend to u.

I always feel that it's our democratic right to vote and I get most upset when women especially "can't be bothered" because remember the Suffrogetes! Throwing themselves in front of the King's horse an' all that..very brave! I didn't know that it was compulsory to vote in Australia. What a great idea! No doubt there will be a good turnout because of this and I hope the outcome is what you desire. It wasn't here for me..unfortunately.

Hi :-) Just to clarify: It's not compulsory to register to vote, but once you do register & appear on the Electoral Role, you must make the effort to rock up to any polling booth (just one!) & get your name crossed off. You have the right to refuse to vote after that & you will not cop the fine. You can also vote before the election if you're out of the country, etc, etc. I'll be voting though & much to my patient wife's annoyance, I'll be numbering every single box below the big black line instead of the one vote above the line. Last federal election I did the same, & I took f o r e v e r ! My wife wanted to leave me there! I mucked it up (it's easy to get it wrong) & couldn't even find where I went wrong. I went to ask for another ballot paper, but was given an eraser & had to start over. All the Best :-)

This is an important question. I think, we all should vote no matter what. I know most of s are utterly disgusted with the current political scenario but we must not just let go our vote ashtray. However, having said this, I do feel the need of a button that says, 'no deserving candidate' so that our vote doesn't go waste. Here, we are not fined for not voting and many do not vote which even though their discretion, I never approve of. Happy Voting Bil and wish Australia a peaceful voting day. may the deserving candidate win.

It is not compulsory in America, but I believe if a person doesn't take the privilege of voting seriously enough to cast one, they should be quiet when things don't go their way. The vote is our one weapon against corruption in politics and if we toss it aside, we can only blame ourselves when things go badly. It would take me being in my casket before I would miss a chance to cast my vote! People who grumble about how much trouble it is to take even a few hours out of their lives to go to the voting booths, should spend a couple of years in a place like Iraq, where they walked miles through treacherous territory for their first chance to use their privilege. Nothing held those folks back - not even the risk of roadside bombs blowing them apart, and WE grumble about the traffic or having to stand in line. Some people don't deserve the right to vote if they see it as too inconvenient to bother doing. Sometimes we have only 11% in local elections and less than 40% always in national ones. That is pathetic in a country of free people. We have grown lazy.

Yep- loving my right to vote here in Aus :) As you know, there are stipulations for people UNABLE to vote- so people aren't being fined unfairly, and it is compulsory to enroll, but its very difficult to follow up on people who don't enroll, especially if they don't have a taxable income, use medicare or have a drivers license. I also numbered every box on my white paper this morning- all 84 boxes. Made me feel good :)

dear rawbill, here in the philippines is not compulsory voting. but children are educated on how important it is to vote. they learn that it is a privilege and a right for all who have aged 18 up to express who they think is the rightful person to lead. they are requested to be vigilant during election time and especially during the counting. we had our first computerized election this year. there were small flaws, I guess, but surely it is better than the manual counting. have a nice day. ann

Whatarewegunnado? The votes have all been counted (twice!) & they tell us now that we'll have to wait at least another week for a result that "should" have been clear on the same day the polls opened. There are a lot of very unhappy people out there. We are clearly a nation divided. Blame shouldn't be placed on the independents, who are doing all they can to save time & money. They've been saving a lot of time by operating as a group; they hold all their meetings with Julia & Tony together & do most of their thinking together, being generally, so far, in agreement on many issues. Mr Windsor, in particular, has emerged as a very clear-thinking, level-headed individual & has a lot of influence. We need a result fairly soon as our dollar, the business & finance sectors have all been steadily falling, even against the USA, ever since election day. I think we all need to take responsibility for this two-party mentality & the good & the bad that has, until now (in my living memory), served us very well. We are still the most over-represented nation in the world. Elections cost such a huge amount of money that we "can't" just have another one without a lot of compromise & policy re-writes all round. Whichever party gains government, their first priority will be to make sure they can turn the situation around to ensure that party need not rely on Independents when in Government. This is what happened in 2002 in SA Elections & Mike Rann's Labor Party is still in power here. Independents here were just pawns who could be bullied or bought off to have the game won. Here's the latest news; they're down to arguing who will stay in The Lodge: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/7843794/kingmakers-descend-on-canberra/

The latest... It looks to be almost over. The battle is effectively won. The Coalition who have won most of the rest of the marginals, including Brisbane & Boothby in SA, will try to form a minority government as backed also by a recent poll in the independents electorates. http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/7838752/independents-voters-want-coalition-govt/

Hi, RawBill1! I live in Bulgaria - a small country in Eastern Europe. The voting here is not compulsory, but in aour neighbour Greece it is. There were major changes in my country in 1989. Until then we had only ONE political party and the elections were fake. After falling of the Berlin wall we had a big participation in the elections as people had big hopes for a change. But the things are not what we hopped to have so many people are tired of voting. I'm like you, I beleive that we should cast our vote.

In Singapore it is also compulsory to vote, and if you don't you will get a fine same as australia. to my voting is very troublesome, but no matter how much we hate to vote we would want to have the right people to lead the country so i guess it is best to vote. Anyway like all the politician say "your vote mean alot to us", lol but it is true your vote may be able to change the impact example asking for a recount and all.

This is my first time in a country where there is an election. Comparatively to the Malaysian election scenario, the election campaign here is not very aggressive. There are not many candidates posters seen around the places and there is no obvious sign that there is an incoming election. I guess many Australian voters have decided who to vote and who should be the next Government. It is not a compulsory thing in my country to vote but as patriotic citizens, everyone should exercise their rights for the nation.

I don’t mind voting and I am glad that I have a say. My ex-husband was an Australian citizen and never bothered to enrol. He never voted while we were together because he didn’t like being told he had to do it which I find really childish! The people voted and now here we are with a hung parliament; it will be interesting to see who gets the big job and how long it will take for that to happen!

Compulsory? I did not know that. I don't think it should be compulsory, some people simply do not want to make informed decisions as should not be forced to vote.

Voting is just as important anywhere as it is in your country and mine. It's the chance to make our voices heard and change things meaningfully. Voting is compulsory here but that's besides the point as I would even if it's not.

yes, voting is compulsary at my country. and happy election to all of you who joint at that moment. hopelly will choose and got a new PM with good knowledge and netral person. happy election.

I'm for Argentina here is also compulsory... but that law its so old that nothing happens if you don't go (I never missed one)