COMPULSORY VOTING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20586, 8 December 1928, Page 24

COMPULSORY VOTING.

THE AUSTRALIAN LAW. PARTIALLY SUCCESSFUL, (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, November 29. If New Zealand ever contemplates a compulsory voting law it is bound to consider the experience of Australia in'this direction. The Australian legislation has been only partially successful in achieving the object aimed at. At the recent elections several voters, not content merely with voting informally, wrote across the ballot paper: “You can lead a horse to the water, but you cannot make it drjpk.” > That seems to be a fair summing up of the position. Throughout the Commonwealth more than 90 per cent, of the electors on the roll attended the polling booths—a remarkable record but the number- of informal votes was an astounding feature of the elections. Nevertheless, it is probable that nearly 600,000 more people voted formally and informally than was the case at the last election before compulsory voting was in force.

The number of informal votes counted to date exceeds 300,000 for the Senate, 200,000 for the House of Representatives, and 250,000 for the referendum. These figures will be increased, and it will probably be shown that at least 10 per'cent, of the votes cast were informal. This is described b ythe officials as abnormal, but 1 it only goes to show the futility of compulsory, voting. “ You can take a horse to the water ~ . The Taw says; that a person shall vote, but it;'does not say that he shall vote formally. - Hundreds of people spoilt their ballot papers deliberately by writing messages upon them. Some of these messages were subtle or amusing, while others were crude, coarse, scurrilous, and obscene. Mostly they were composed by people who were obviously annoywV at having to vote, these inscriptions; being in the nature of the following:—" Wouldn’t have any of them on my mind”; “Not. on your life ”; 11 1 want none of these ”, “I wouldn’t vote for any of the cows.” “ What’s the idea of bringing this up,” wrote another city elector who was evidently perplexed at the questions associated with the referendum. Some qf the inscriptions were quite irrelevant. One paper contained a few frank allusions to the elector’s wife. Another gave expression to the private hate he had for Mussolini, The sec-' tarian question inevitably crept in now and again. This condition of affairs Is something over which’ the electoral officials have no ’ control, for it would be hopeless to. attempt to trace even the writers of the most obscene messages, fne writing of which constitutes a serious offence. Everything is. done to impress upon the voters the correct way to record their votes, but there are many people who are not intelligent enough to deserve a vote, and a mistake, it would seem, is made in compelling such people to do something they do not understand. “ The problem of informal voting,” said one official in Melbourne, “is not one that can be attacked in a special way by legislation or instruction. It really defies a positive cure.’’. During the next few weeks thousands of people will be prosecuted for not voting Ing, and the fines will range from 10s to £2, according to the nature of the excuse offered. If an elector has a reasonable and lawful excuse he goes free.