13NFL1-Compulsory Voting
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INVALID VOTES
THERE ARE HIGH RATES OF INVALID VOTES IN COUNTRIES SUCH AS BRAZIL THAT
HAVE COMPULSORY VOTING.
Power and Roberts 95, Timothy J. Power Louisiana State University and J. Timmons Roberts Tulane University, "Compulsory Voting, Invalid Ballots, and Absention in Brazil, Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 48, No. 4 (Dec, 1995), pp. 795-826. Low voter turnout and the desire to strengthen democratic institutions have inspired many to propose that voting be made mandatory bylaw. In Brazil, as in Australia, Belgium, Italy, and a number of other countries, voting has in fact been compulsory for decades' However, the case of Brazil alerts us that compelling voters to go to the polls does not guarantee that they will complete a ballot While invalid votes in wealthy democracies such as Australia and The Netherlands have usually comprised about 2 to 3 percent of all ballots cast, in Brazil the equivalent rates are from five to twenty times higher
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