tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579189847356587096.post7135831774781528713..comments2024-02-14T11:30:29.227-08:00Comments on Facts For Working People: Bernie in Rome before New York Primary: After the Catholic vote.Richard Mellorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997976754939725087noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579189847356587096.post-92212558886848737802016-04-10T17:07:54.187-07:002016-04-10T17:07:54.187-07:00In Australia, attendance at the ballot is compulso...In Australia, attendance at the ballot is compulsory. Once there, of course, what you with your ballot paper is confidential, and whether you cast a vote or not is your business. Most people, once there, do cast a vote. Some leave their ballot papers blank. Some write in political comments.<br /><br />The left in Australia is generally strongly supportive of compulsory voting. Evidence from comparable jurisdictions with voluntary voting - particularly the UK and New Zealand - shows that when attendance at the polling booth is voluntary, factors such as bad weather impact more significantly on the working class vote and the vote of vulnerable groups such as the elderly, the disabled and the unemployed, much more than on the rich, who can drive to the polling booth.<br /><br />Another aspect of the Australian voting system which is much better than the US, is our use of preferential voting - if your candidate of first preference does not succeed, then your vote is passed on at full value to your second preference, and so on. This means that you never have to worry about "wasting" a vote on a candidate from other than the major parties. It is because of preferential voting that Australia has seen the gradual erosion of our traditional three party system (with the Labor Party - once social democrat and now neo liberal - on one side and a coalition of a "Liberal" Party - hard line conservative tories, despite the name - and a National Party - based on a conservative rural constituency - on the other). Now we have Greens and Independents in both our state and national parliaments, as well as small party representatives from the right, including christian fundamentalists and anti-environmentalists. We also have maverick populist parties. <br /><br />However the key thing for the left is that you can run a socialist campaign without being accused of undermining the chances of the "lesser of two evils" major party candidate. We can vote, eg, 1 Socialist, 2 Green, 3 Labour, which means that we can give our full support to the parties we prefer, and still ensure that, if neither the Socialist nor the Greens candidate are successful in that electorate, our vote will go to Labour ahead of the tories, which can be critically important in preventing the worst ravages agains workers' rights.<br /><br />Compulsory ballot attendance and a high turnout doesn't force people to vote for the ruling parties. It does ensure that the vast majority of the working class and its allies participate in the electoral process, and that all parties have to consider those voters when running their campaigns. Together with preferential voting, it has assisted the growth of small parties of the left as viable electoral contenders, and even occasionally as elected representatives.<br /><br />Don't knock it just because your two major parties are both conservative. If the left walk away from the electoral process, we cede the ground to the right without a fight. <br /><br />If you think a utopian revolution is actually a viable alternative in the current circumstances, then good luck with that. But if not, then giving working people a voice in who governs them should not be discarded just because you're concerned it could give reactionary governments more "legitimacy". They claim all the legitimacy they want from the voluntary voting system.<br /><br />I have little time for Obama. But every now and again he does suggest something sensible. I think this is one of those times.Linda, Australianoreply@blogger.com