Mackerras and McAllister tell us that ‘Australia has the oldest and probably the most efficient system of compulsory voting’ of any of the advanced democracies. Recently, however, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters tabled a report in Parliament recommending that the compulsory voting requirement for federal elections and referenda be repealed.(1)That compulsory voting is a curious or eccentric phenomenon has never, apparently, bothered Australians. This is probably a function of the fact that their relationship to the state has normally been a friendly one, often characterised as either Benthamite, utilitarian or social democratic in nature. In contrast to political cultures marked by a Lockean type approach to state activity, Australians have generally regarded the state in quasi-idealist terms as a benign provider of goods rather than an unwelcome imposer of restrictions. Australians have not, therefore, looked upon the compulsion to vote as particularly objectionable or onerous. In addition, few have questioned its paradoxical status in relation to liberal democratic principles. Most Australians regard voting not so much as a right as a fairly undemanding civic duty. It is seen as a normal part of Australian political culture and has wide support in the Australian electorate. (2)
In this paper I go beyond the usual liberal/democratic debates about the justifiability of compulsion or arguments about partisan benefit, towards a discussion of its social and economic functions. The main theme is that the protection against marginality afforded by compulsion becomes more urgent in periods of economic crisis. Given a number of trends both here and in comparable contexts, it is suggested that it would be a particularly bad time for Australians to consider abandoning the present system. These trends include: an ailing economy characterised, on the one hand by new and increasing underclasses and, on the other, by greater time pressures upon those in work; increasing alienation and apathy among the young; a world wide trend towards political demobilisation and finally innovations in information technology which may exacerbate the distance between voters and political affairs. The importance of compulsion is also linked to the centrality of inclusive citizenship to our anticipated republic.
A secondary theme focuses on the way in which abstention can be understood, not simply as a political, but also as an emotional and psychological response to marginalisation and isolation. Subjective feelings of alienation, neglect, low self-esteem and low political efficacy should be taken seriously by political scientists, not so much as individuo-psychic motivations, but as sociopsychic norms which may govern the behaviour of non-voters, culminating in what is termed here ‘political shyness’.
The politically shy are shown to be among the most vulnerable members of our community and it is suggested that under a voluntary system, political shyness would affect negatively the welfare of these groups. Abstention is a social as well as a political problem because voting may act as a preventative of social isolation and a buffer against marginalisation. The ethics of compulsion may therefore be understood, not only as a deontological problem about inalienable rights, but as a teleological problem about inequality and welfare outcomes.
(1)The Report was entitled “The Conduct of the 1996 Federal Election”. It was tabled in Parliament in June 1997. There have been no overt moves on the part of the government to act on this recommendation however. For further discussion see: Australian Electoral Commission, Backgrounder No. 8. During the reading of the Constitutional Convention Bill, 1997, Senator John Faulkner expressed concerns that the government’s use of a voluntary ballot for the election of delegates to the convention foreshadowed attempts to attempts to introduce voluntarism for federal elections (Weekly Senate Hansard, June17 1997, p.2).
(2)”[N]ever less that six out of every 10 voters have supported compulsory voting”, (M. Mackerras and I McAllister, ‘Compulsory Voting, Party Stability and Electoral Bias in Australia”, American Political Science Association meeting, San Francisco, 29 August, 1 September, 1996, pp.1-17, pp. 2; 6; pp.14-15.A Morgan Poll conducted in 1997 found that 67% of Australians support compulsory voting (Morgan Poll, Finding No. 2997, Bulletin, July 1, 1997). A national survey by Newspoll Market Research for the Australian Electoral Commission on March 3 1996 immediately following the 1996 Federal election found that 74% of Australians supported compulsory voting at Federal elections.
Lisa Hill has been a Research Fellow in the Political Science Program at the Research School of Social Sciences, ANU, since 1996. Before that she studied politics at Oxford University and taught at the University of Sydney. She has recently published on compulsory voting (Journal of Sociology), the history of sociology (History of Ideas)and the failed republican referendum (Journal of Australian Studies).
Email: Lisa Hill
