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‘A Lonely and Quixotic Battle’: A Short History of Agitation Against Compulsory Voting in Australia

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Part of the book series:Elections, Voting, Technology ((EVT))

Abstract

This chapter explores why attempts to kindle debate on compulsory voting in Australia have been largely fruitless. The answer can be found in a number of contributing factors: that compulsory voting is compatible with the national political temperament; that it is buttressed by path dependency; that while there have been spikes of dissent about the practice in the Liberal Party (especially from the 1980s to the first decade of the twenty-first century) that opposition never attained a majority position on the right-of-centre side of politics; that the critics of compulsory voting have been reliant on abstract arguments in contrast to its readily demonstrable benefits (namely, the consistently high voter turnout); that the way in which compulsory voting has been enforced by authorities has been generally lenient; and, most importantly, that compulsory voting has enjoyed sustained and widespread public support.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See alsoSouth Australian Hansard, 21 July1998, pp. 1041–1044; 22 July1998, pp. 1086–1087; 4 August1998, pp. 1178–1179; and 11 August1998, pp. 1311–1441.

  2. 2.

    That leniency has been ongoing. For example, see the figures on non-voting at the 2004 federal election cited in Bennett (2005, pp. 27–28).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Politics and International Relations, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Paul Strangio

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  1. Paul Strangio

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Correspondence toPaul Strangio.

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Politics and International Relations, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Matteo Bonotti

  2. Politics and International Relations, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Paul Strangio

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Strangio, P. (2021). ‘A Lonely and Quixotic Battle’: A Short History of Agitation Against Compulsory Voting in Australia. In: Bonotti, M., Strangio, P. (eds) A Century of Compulsory Voting in Australia. Elections, Voting, Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4025-1_3

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