13NFL1-Compulsory Voting
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AT AUSTRALIA
THE AUSTRALIAN SYSTEM IS INEFFICIENT.
Anthoula Malkopoulou postdoctoral researcher at the Finnish Academy Project, "Lost Voters Participation in EU elections and the case for compulsory voting, Centre for European Policy Studies Working Document No. July 2009. The most notable example of a country that effectively enforces compulsory voting today is Australia. The enforcement is rather lenient, as nonvoters are first invited to provide a valid and sufficient explanation for their absence. This maybe physical obstruction, whether of sickness or outside prevention, or of natural events, or accident of any kind (Election Commission, 2007). Only when this request is not satisfied are nonvoters fined. The price to pay is AUD20 (approx.
€10) and, in case of noncompliance, it rises to AUD50 (approx. €25). This can either be replaced by court attendance or further transformed into criminal sanctions (Commonwealth Electoral Act,
1918). Only those who are abroad on election-day are exempted. Even with such small fines, the Australian turnout from 1946 until 2007 has been mostly around 95% (IDEA. The main objections raised against the system are that the implementation entails high costs and too many administrative resources.
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