Compulsory Voting in the Age of Populism.

Too many words have already been written about the current US administration to the point where even my own veracious appetite for political news has been dampened under what is essentially an avalanche of absurdity that seems to worsen each daily news cycle. But, the reality is that no matter where we are in the wold we cannot avoid its impact, whether it be its emboldening of bad actors in all spheres of politics or in other divisive ways.

Australia may not be the model of democracy, particularly given the events of the last few years. Australia has seen unelected leader after unelected leader turn up as the Prime Minister, after party members hatched spills that created a revolving door of party heads.

But what Australia does have that is worth taking a minute to consider is a thing called compulsory voting. Australia introduced compulsory enrolment for voting at federal elections in 1912, 11 years after independence from its colonial parent Great Britain. Compulsory voting for national elections was introduced in Australia in 1924, following a large fall in turnout at the 1922 federal election. In the years prior to compulsory voting the turnout accounted for between 47% and 78% of eligible voters. Following the introduction of compulsory national voting in 1924, this figure jumped to between 91% and 96% with only 5% of eligible voters accounted as not enrolled.

Compulsory voting may seem contrary to freedom of choice or the rights that the very democratic process provides, but it seems to me that this small anomaly to freedom of choice seems a very small price to pay for the overall defence of freedoms at large. Once per five years to protect the popular vote provides a level of confidence that democracy has been served, but also most importantly for the administration, the undeniable mandate it requires from which to vigorously apply its policies.

The USA is not just a country, it is a global power. What happens in Washington ripples out across the world and delivers influence and direction to what then becomes our opinions and reflected in international policies.

The current wave of global populism and anti-immigrant, right wing politics may not be an American export but the wall to wall coverage of the American political landscape on almost every American news carriage has done nothing but embolden the radicals on both sides of the political spectrum.

Given the massive influence that the US has on the world at large it seems to me the least we can ask, or even demand as global citizens, is that ALL Americans are compelled by law to vote for their leaders.

I have yet to see Michael Moore’s latest movie, Fahrenheit 11/9 but, just the pre-screening interviews and town hall meetings that Moore has partaken in the promotional tour of the movie has provided some shocking revelations, particularly in regard to the actual amount of people that made the effort to vote on election day. To know that its only 58% of eligible American voters who went to the polls in 2016 is one thing, but seeing how it breaks down state to state and understanding the narrow margins that delivered the greatest upset in the history of American democracy is nothing short of shocking.

The world was extremely surprised to see a reality television star come real estate developer end up as the most powerful person in the world. Particularly on a platform of policies that were ill defined and somehow supposed to favour the blue-collar worker, to which he clearly had no real experience with. To hear that the reason this happened was apathy is hard to comprehend. It’s almost a sub plot of House of Cards - where Frank is lectured by his party that “the American voter wants someone in the Whitehouse they can trust, someone that they can believe in”. His retort is ominous “No” he states, “they just want someone who they know”.

If America was compelled legally to exercise their democratic rights, how would the America we know look today? Would it be a better place, less divisive and would the world mirror this. Its a thought worth considering.