this post was submitted on 18 May 2026
34 points (94.7% liked)

Aotearoa / New Zealand

2173 readers
39 users here now

Kia ora and welcome to !newzealand, a place to share and discuss anything about Aotearoa in general

Rules:

FAQ ~ NZ Community List ~ Join Matrix chatroom

 

Banner image by Bernard Spragg

Got an idea for next month's banner?

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Dave@lemmy.nz
RaoulDuke@lemmy.nz
34
Compulsory voting has boosted turnout in Australia – is it time NZ tried it? (www.rnz.co.nz)
submitted 1 day ago by Ilovethebomb@lemmy.nz to c/newzealand@lemmy.nz
9 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'd love to know what others think about this. My view is it's already very easy to cast a vote, as easy as we can realistically make it, and we should be asking ourselves why fifteen percent of the population don't bother to vote, rather than forcing them to do so.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] greenskye@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago

Maybe I'm just too American to see the downsides, but I'd much rather have people voting stupidly than our current situation of voter suppression.

Introducing the possibility of not voting just seems to encourage those in power to make it harder for 'undesirables' to vote as a way of shaping the election. Thus, those that actually DO want to vote cannot.

In a system where everyone has to vote, there can be no suppression. Right? Or am I missing something?

So yes, they can vote stupidly. But no one's voice can be taken away. That seems very important for any sort of democracy to work. Stupid voting can be worked on (though honestly never eliminated as there are always stupid people). But at least you always know you're getting the government people wanted.