deird_lj

It's equally weird to me when I see other countries holding elections, and then having to wait days for the results. Here, we'll know by 2.00 am tomorrow morning who the new government will be.

(Unless it's a hung parilament with no obvious winner, in which case it might take a while for the parties to argue about who'll form a coalition with whom.)

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deird1

Yeah, same for us...

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The question is, when do your ballots close?

|Meduza|

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10.00 pm. Fifteen minutes time from now.

The first result is usually declared an hour later; after four hours enough results are in for one party or the other to concede defeat (traditionally, the leader of the losing party rings up the winner to offer congratulations). A few remote districts like the Outer Hebrides don't get their results in until the following morning, but it's not enough to affect the result.

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I find your more-than-two parties thing bemusing.

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deird1

I think we had eight or nine at the last election...

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Radical!

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Only 8 or 9? Wow.

ETA: to clarify, I think Israel has ~5 in the coalition. ::checks:: 12 parties in the parliament {which has only 120 seats}, and six of those are in the coalition, and the biggest party is in the opposition. Ah, politics.

|Meduza|

Edited Date: 2010-05-07 07:02 pm (UTC)

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In Britain there's only really two parties who form governments, plus a third party who get about 10% of the seats in Parliament. (And nationalist parties in Wales and Scotland.) The Liberal Democrats are mainly a protest vote for people who don't like either main party.

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deird1

Do you guys have lots of little parties who occasionally get votes? And once every few decades they actually get an MP into parliament?

(I'm aware we have plenty of little parties trying for seats - but can only name Labor, Liberal, the Nationals, the Greens, and the Democrats off the top of my head - and the Democrats don't even exist anymore...)

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Yes. If we exclude Northern Ireland which is weird, then apart from the big three (Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative) there is the Green Party (never had an MP, but might get one this time), the UK Independence Party (very right-wing, anti-Europe, no MPs), the British National Party (Neo-Nazi, no MPs, but has an outside chance of getting one), various left-wing socialist parties which are often just one politician with a local powerbase, and of course the Monster Raving Loony Party.

You frequently have independents standing under various party names, usually only getting less than 1% of the vote, but very occasionally one will get elected.

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Hmm, interesting. Here we just write down Mickey Mouse. :)

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I've never understood this idea of write-in votes. Do the people counting the ballots actually make a note of what people write? Could somebody who didn't stand for election actually get voted in anyway?

Here, you have a printed ballot paper listing the names and you put a cross next to the one you want, and that's it. Writing on the ballot paper is either ignored, or invalidates it, depending on what exactly you write...

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deird1

Whereas over here we have numbers, from 1 up to whatever...

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gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com

Could somebody who didn't stand for election actually get voted in anyway?

*nods*

As I recall, there was a grassroots campaign to write-in Al Gore during the Democratic primary this past election. Didn't work. Obviously.

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So... if the collective power of LiveJournal mobilised its powers for good and organised a write-in campaign on an unprecedented scale at the next presidential election... you might wake up the next morning to a bunch of Secret Service agents knocking on your door to tell you that you've been elected President?

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gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com

Definitely not. I'm not old enough to qualify to be president. :)

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Eh. I don't really either, since I've never done it - although no, you couldn't elect Mickey Mouse president, even if enough people wrote him in. :P

(It might be that you could technically elect a write-in, but no one's ever gotten enough votes from that to count. Or I could be lying? I am so politically ignorant.)

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If someone legally changed his name to Mickey Mouse, could he then claim that all those write-in votes were for him after all, and thus he'd been elected?

That sounds like a plan, actually.
:-)

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Crap, you've found the way around our brilliant system! Tell no one.

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diebirchen.livejournal.com

Well, I always vote. When I became enfranchised at 21, my father gave me a rather stern lecture the gist of which was, if you don't vote, you have no right to complain about anything that goes on in this country. With the vote, one can work for change. If you don't vote, don't bitch. I took his words to heart. If going out of town, I vote early. If out of the country for long periods, I vote absentee.

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froxyn.livejournal.com

Even though I've lived in Australia for 6 1/2 years, I still get confused when my girlfriend (and now me, I guess since I became an Australican in January) says "Oh, I need to go vote this weekend".

Compulsory voting still makes me chuckle a bit.

I always voted back home, but there's something about being fined if you don't vote that makes me laugh. Not sure why. *LOL*

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How do they enforce this? I'm intrigued. And do people take it to heart and really inform themselves before they do so?

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angearia.livejournal.com

I'm also puzzled. How can voting be compulsory? Do you get punished for not voting?

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People who don't vote get fined. :)

|Meduza|

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deird1

We would get fined - but not a huge amount. It's mostly that no-one would think of not voting, because that's just what everyone does...

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Plus it's silly to lose $50 just for NOT VOTING.

|Meduza|

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Fines. Maybe even other things.

|Meduza|

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Weird. How much, do you know?

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Am not Australian, so nope. It's just what I was told when I asked my civics teacher how it's possible to enforce voting. . . .

|Meduza|

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deird1

There are fines - but it's only about $50, so it's not a big deal.

Mostly? We vote because everyone votes... It would just be weird not to.

And do people take it to heart and really inform themselves before they do so?

I have no idea. Everyone I know certainly seems to...

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This is just so foreign to my thinking. And $50 isn't a big deal, it's just strange for me to think of!

Mostly? We vote because everyone votes... It would just be weird not to.
Hee!

That's good! I'm glad to know that!

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kirby1024.livejournal.com

Well, we're all on the electoral roll (since it's not party-based, but in a government body's hands), and they mark your name off the roll when you come in to vote. If you've not been marked off, they fine you. Not heavily (it's about $50), and if you have a good excuse they'll waive the fine, but the penalty is still there.

As to whether people take it to heart? No. While there's "Swinging voters" in most electorates, people tend to vote on party lines, and do so the same way each year. In fact, who your parents vote for correlates quite heavily with how you vote in this country. So... for the most part, all the people who vote the same way each year rather cancel each other out...

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That is fascinating. Thanks for sharing!

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roccondilrinon.livejournal.com

do people take it to heart and really inform themselves before they do so?

About as much as in any other country — so no. About 80% of the population will always vote for the same party, generally either Labor (centrist) or Liberal (centre-conservative), and probably the majority of seats are "safe" for one or the other. Of the remaining 20%, about half inform themselves properly; the other half just vote for whoever is less controversial or whoever supports their pet issue. I (and many of my friends, except for the ones who actually work for the Democrats and support them because they're involved in making their policy) pride myself on being in the informed 10%.

*NB: Figures have been pulled out of my arse and represent my perception of political attitudes in this country only.

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carlos-v-b.livejournal.com

As someone used to voting on a weekend, yeah, it is weird.

Plus, we don't get to put 1,2,3,4,5 in the boxes. No, we just get a solitary 'X'. Which means we miss out on one of the best parts of the Australian voting system; after we decide who we most want to represent us, we get to decide which racist shithole we hate the most.

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deird1

Proportional voting is so much better! (We rock, we really do.)

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brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com

Elections are on Thursdays. It is the Way and the Truth, or something.

Wait till we have a hung parliament and have to do all this again in a year or two, only less enthusiastically and grumpier.

Not going to touch compulsory voting. It's a privilege to vote, and if people can't be bothered, that's their problem. (As long as they then don't complain about the outcome, obviously.)

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HAHAH. Not compulsory in most places. I remember studying for civics {compulsory high school subject} that forcing people to vote is a questionable democratic practice, because it's not very democratic. I can't remember the details, though.

Here you don't have to vote, but it's considered a day off {it's always the weekdays. Shabbat is holy, you know} -- schools are out {that's where the ballots are, LOL, plus, school staff need to vote too}, only essential workers keep working, and I think you get paid as if you were working during a holiday.

|Meduza|

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deird1

it's always the weekdays. Shabbat is holy, you know

Hmm, that's a point. I wonder what our Jewish communities do on voting day?

It's not exactly like we're forced to vote - more like we're forced to turn up at the voting booth and write something down. Whether we actually fill in the voting card or just write "GET SCREWED POLLIES" all over the paper is really up to us...

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I wonder what our Jewish communities do on voting day?

Well. I'm assuming you can still vote at 21:00 or so, right? Shabbat is Friday-sunset until Saturday-sunset, so Saturday evening is okay for voting. It's inconvenient because omg rushing out of the house to vote right after a slow Shabbat -- not fun.

Hee. We have a 'white note' in case the party notes run out {you put in the acronym of your preferred party, and they're pre-printed} we can put. So we can a) not vote, or b) go to vote, but put a white note that says 'I did my democratic duty, but I hate everybody equally'. I despise that, because that's horrible. One of my friends' family always put a white note, and it enrages me. They don't do it out of belief, but because they don't bother finding a party that's worth voting for.

|Meduza|

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deird1

Well. I'm assuming you can still vote at 21:00 or so, right?

No...

Hence my wondering. I'm pretty sure the ballots are closed before the Sabbath ends.

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Can you not get a postal vote and send it in before the day of the election?

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deird1

Aha! Good point.

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1c2k3p4p5c.livejournal.com

Seventh day adventists use postal votes, I believe.

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