COMPULSORY VOTING PROVES A FAILURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18644, 22 December 1928, Page 6

COMPULSORY VOTING PROVES A FAILURE.

750,000 INFORMAL VOTES MADE IN AUSTRALIA. If New Zealand ever contemplates a compulsory votiqg 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 with merelv’ voting informally, wrote across the ballot paper: “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.” 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 places —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 1 per cent of the votes cast were informal. This is described by the officials as abnormal, but it only goes to. show the futility of compulsory voting. “ You can take a horse to the water . .. The law 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 axjiusing, while others were crude, coarse and scurrilous. Mostly fhey were composed by people who were obviously annoyed 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”; “I want none of 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; of 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 sectarian 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 certain messages, the 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 by 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, 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.