Compulsory Voting
Compulsory Voting The Australian System and How It Works By Mark Sherwin NOW ii the time for all good man to come to the aid of their party. So, when election day rolli around all good party...
...During the 1943 elections the Aussie service vote was almost identical with the civilian vote in almost exact proportion with that given to it by the civilian population...
...Now yon can see why Australian judges can levy fines on non-voters with a clear government conscience...
...Virginia maintained her compulsory voting law throughout her history as a colony with a fine for, non-voters of 100 pounds of tobacco, which later was increased to 200 pounds...
...Ulinoia tried the experiment in such an unfair manner that It really was no experiment at all...
...15, 1944...
...I should like to take you behind the scenes, so to spesk, during the preparation of this article...
...How do the people like the system...
...I intended to be as objective as possible in the writing to present the facts ss they struck me...
...Talk about compulsory voting hss been decidedly weak in this country...
...But when unemployment struck in 1929, and Prohibition had become a national menace and scandal, it touched nearly all the people and they turned out to vote...
...The climb from 56.9 in 1920 to 70.59 in 1940 ran be M tlimited to education...
...Broken down into sections, however, figures show that in the eight polltax states only 21.1 percent of the eligibles voted...
...I don't believe in polemics in correspondence columns, bat as I have been quoted in defense ef the Hessian altitude towards the Warsaw maquis, you will permit me te aay that I consider it ss ens of the major infamies of this war which, though committed by different methods, will rank for tk« futare historian an the same ethical level with Lidice Arthur Koestler...
...None...
...They do it in Australia every year under the system of compulsory voting...
...One year later 91.39 of eligibles in Australians went to the polls...
...So the apathetic citisen just never voted sad never paid the fine—and what's worse gave enemies of compulsory voting another barroom-discussion weapon...
...That's* the oddest part about this subject Nobody seems to give a damn...
...Here we refer to our voting as a sacred right, a privilege won by the blood of our pioneers...
...Yet this admittedly horrifying idea is highly encouraged by the kind of election system we are working under in these United States in the year 1944...
...How many American men and women wtU go ta the polls on November 7? If we knew the answer we could forecast the outcome with a good degree of certainty...
...To understand the feeling of the citisens down under it is necessary to understand the government'a attitude toward voting...
...The ballot may be the badge of freedom, but neglect and confusing laws have tarnished it to a great extent The states have such conflicting election laws that before woman suffrage became national, women had the vote in 15 states...
...It would be better to refer to voting as a solemn duty...
...There were very few facts, except the ones about Australia, of course...
...The word compulsory dots have a rather fearful connotation in a Democratic country...
...Australia, like the U.S.A., is made up of states...
...You would be shocked if we were to assume—just assume, mind you—that these are the only citizens who will vote this year...
...When in 1920 a weary people settled down to peace and Prohibition slid in on small vote because the people had not been sufficiently educated to the issues...
...In the ' latter part of the 19th century, 22 states allowed aliens to vote providing they had declared their intention to become citizens...
...Thia ia the way it worked...
...Quite well, as I shall shortly prove...
...Kaiser believes In education of the voter rather than in compulsion...
...A first offender who didnt vote was cited in court, reprimsnded or fined...
...What's the catch...
...So, when election day rolli around all good party stalwarts, - ward-heelera, job-set ken and stumble-buras will foro> gtather under the Republican or Democratic banner and cait their votes, as directed, without thought to man or issue...
...In the referendum the following August, however, the men in the armed services voted in favor of the Commonwealths being granted additional constitutional powers (although the civilian vote turned down the government's case by a very large majority...
...Some New England towns fined—and still do—all citizens who srrive late at town meetings...
...66.06 1928 V 67.05 1932 ' 70.01 1936 . 71.09 1940 70.69 Australians are compelled by the law to have their names placed on the electoral roll, similar to our registration...
...Where then lies our weakness...
...The Australians have taken these high-sounding phrases and put them to work...
...The Australian soldier has been compared physically, mentally snd spiritually with the American soldier...
...What would you say if without any poll taking or any other artificial means of finding out you could with utmost certainty know that on election day between 90 and 95 percent of eligible citizens will vote...
...COMPARABLE to the Australian system is the Belgian (prewar) system which was instituted in 1894...
...Poll takers, sociologists, political experts, public-opinion specialists are trying to figure out if the vote will be large or small...
...Voting itself has been a great concern of Americans* since the days of the Pilgrims...
...First to mind come our poll tsxers, in eight states which have laws designed to prevent certain sections of the population from voting...
...Failure to do so without a good excuse, such as illness or inability through transport breakdown, is punished by a fine of 12 (about $7 under the current rate of exchange...
...When the issues of tariffs snd free silver were up before the people they were relstively apathetic because they did not understand them...
...Is it then wise to wait for all of the people to become educated to voting—or as any good copywriter would say— get the voting habit...
...In 1636 the Plymouth Colony passed s law fining "those who abstained from voting" three shillings, and in 1671 upped the fine to ten shillings...
...Failure to do this makes them liable te a fine...
...Like this, for exsmple...
...Lsst year the Commonwealth government amended the electoral act to extend the franchise to servicemen under the legal voting age of 21 who had served outside Auatralia...
...But the fact* didn't strike m: I had to go hunting for them in the oddest corners of libraries, pamphlets, ancient newspaper clippings and such...
...Politicians are straining every muscle to achieve either end—whichever will do their party the most good...
...The finest' example is the attitude toward the Austrslian soldier-vote...
...A small vote will favor Dewey and a largo vote will favor Roosevelt...
...Since every liberty must be balanced by a responsibility, our Tight to vote is therefore a duty to vote...
...ThIS then is the case for compulsory voting rs mads out by a people very much like we have here...
...Magic...
...Aside from the fact that citisens who shirked voting were not the people Ut juries, the system was a direct slap at the prestige ef jury service...
...In 1924, 60 percent of eligible voters in Australia cast their votes in the national election...
...Voting was compulsory...
...Voting 1928 93.65 1929 94.86 1931 96.04 1934 96.17 1937 M.13 1940 94.82 Percentages of eligibles voting in America in presidential elections from 1920 make an interesting comparison—or contrast: 1920 66.9 1924 \r...
...And there waa very little of any kind of literature on compulsory voting...
...When election time came around last year and Aussie* fighting the Japs in the jungles of New Guines could not be present at their army voting places, the voting officials went out to them—under fire...
...The election lsws of Australia are nationsl msde popular with the simple human touch...
...Literacy tests in regions known for their illiteracy, poll taxes, property qualifications, manage very neatly to skirt the provisions in the Constitution and anyone who objects is an enemy of states' rights...
...The luxury of time in education is best illustrated in the U. S. percentages cited before...
...Can u-e picture the tragic eoneequenret of 1944 if the issues this year are not clear and timple and a email vote manage* to elect Dewey...
...Or is it bettor if we give them the voting habit and get a larger turnout at the polls...
...Under oar Constitution the vsrioue states have the fall freedom to bestow or withhold the right to vote so long as it ia not "abridged er denied on account of race color or previous condition of servitude"—or sex...
...Any argument that they might resent compulsion is easily cancelled by the better point that if people know they will have to make up their minds on an issue on election day they may take a bit of time off from the sports page or the radio comedian to acquaint themselves with the issue...
...A second offender suffered a more severe fine and hia name was posted for all to read...
...Seeking freedom of expression in the new world, the founding fathers were constrained to make voting compulsory, such being the nature of free men...
...How well they have succeeded ia bast shown by the 1940 percentages in the presidential election when nearly 60,000,000 votes were cast in the nation for a percentage average of 70.69...
...Another stumbling block are our states rights "champions...
...Another rather weak attempt was made in the fallowing manner: A citisen who didn't vote was fined, He didn't have to pay the fine unless he wanted to vote...
...Australia wants every citizen to vote and will follow him into the jaws of living hell so that he can vote...
...Let's see how he acta in an election...
...My hope in writing this article is that it will stir up some discussion so we may learn more about the ancient art of voting, and whether a man under compulsion to decide can decide as clearly as a man who is doing us all a favor by taking an hour out of his life to cast his ballot...
...We have 48 little election laws broken down into so many localised city aad coaaty laws that it ie a wander we can get any kind ef a sizable vote out on election day...
...Persons who failed te vote were "penalises?* by being put on jury panels...
...When the soldier vote issue came up there was no wrangling over some ephemera] states' rights...
...Only recently, however, one of our most practical men, Henry J. Kaiser, chairman of the Non-Partisan Association for Franchiae Education, suggerhd that people who failed to vote should be fined...
...Then ws have little statutes on registration, residence laws, and other annoyances that discourage the voter...
...Let's look at some more figures on voting percentages since that historic year: Percentages af Election Tear Kligibl...
...In your last issue John Armstrong, in defense ef Russian policy, quotes from my novel, Darknci* at Noon, n passage extolling the virtues of the eW Bolshevik Guard...
...At least one state in recent years made an abysmally ¦tupid attempt at making voting compulsory...
...If anyone failed to vote four times in ten years his name was stricken from the voting lists for the next ten years snd he was debarred from holding any public office...
...The betting odds on the election were revised the day New York's registration figures were published...
...Armstrong, an excellent painter and political nitwit seems not to hsve reaKsed that the theme of tke book he quotes k the liquidation of that old guard by Russia's preseat ralere, and that praise of the victim sggravstes tke ckarge againat tke killer...
...The following year a law waa passed compelling Australians to vote...
...Other colonies had similar laws...
...Simple: If they're old enough to die for their country, they're old enough to vote...
...KOESTLER ON WARSAW UPRISING (From the London Tribune, Sept...
Vol. 27 • October 1944 • No. 43
