Intro -- Contents -- Notes on Contributors -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- 1 Introduction -- Compulsory Voting in Australia -- Outline of the Book -- Bibliography -- 2 How Australia Got Compulsory Voting -- Introduction -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 3 'A Lonely and Quixotic Battle': A Short History of Agitation Against Compulsory Voting in Australia -- Introduction -- Early and Isolated Voices of Opposition -- A Blight on the Party System -- The Seeds of Mobilisation -- A Concerted but Chequered Push, 1988-2005 -- Opposition Peters Out -- An Unassailable Institution? -- Conclusion Bibliography -- 4 Assessing Objections to Compulsory Voting in Australia -- Introduction -- Compulsory Voting and Individual Liberty -- Compulsory Voting as Unnecessary -- Compulsory Voting as Anti-democratic -- Compulsory Voting and the Right Not to Vote -- Compulsory Voting and Political Parties -- Disengaged Voters -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 5 Public Opinion and Compulsory Voting in Australia -- Introduction -- Long-Term Support for Compulsory Voting -- Who Needs Help to the Polls? -- Electoral Effects of Compulsory Voting -- Conclusion -- Bibliography. 6 Non-participation in Australian National Elections: Fault-Lines in the Compulsory Voting Consensus -- Introduction -- Enrolment and Voting in Australia: Rules, Structures and Trends -- From Enrolment to Turn-Out: The Fault-Lines Confirmed -- Inner Urban Absenteeism: A Case of Absent Youth? -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 7 Becoming an Informed Voter: Compulsory Voting and Developing Political Knowledge in Australia -- Introduction -- Political Literacy in Australia and Abroad -- What Do Australian Voters Need to Know About Politics? -- Political System -- Electoral System Political Parties and Political Representatives -- Political Issues and Policies -- Sources of Political Information -- Parents -- Schools -- Media -- Political Parties -- Electoral Commissions -- Barriers to Political Knowledge -- Disinterest -- Education -- Disinformation -- Moving Forward -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 8 'Choice of the Manner in Which Thou Wilt Die': The Australian Courts on Compulsory Voting -- Introduction -- Electoral Compulsion in Australia: A Potted Legal History -- The Courts on Compulsion -- The High Court on the Constitutionality and Defensibility of Compulsion Compulsion Trumps Implied Freedoms -- 'Valid and Sufficient' Excuses for not Voting -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 9 Compulsory Voting: Activating the Demos and Enhancing Procedural Democracy in Australia -- Introduction -- Legitimacy in a Procedural Democracy -- Compulsory Voting and Full Participation -- Is Opportunity to Vote Enough? -- The User-Friendly Democracy -- The Trusted Democracy -- Compulsory Voting and Attentive Publics -- How Compulsory Voting Makes Governments More Representative -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 10 Public Reason, Compulsory Voting and Australian Democracy
Summary:
This volume provides valuable insight into how compulsory voting has worked over the last century in Australia and beyond. The collection includes contributions by historians, political theorists and empirical political scientists, and in addition to Australia it also considers how compulsory voting has been debated in Europe and North America. The authors address a wide variety of different aspects of the institution and offer analyses that will be highly relevant to all who take an interest in electoral institution design and voter participation. - Professor Sarah Birch, Kings College London Political scientists, historians and legal scholars regularly examine facets of Australias system of compulsory voting. But, for the first time, this volume provides a comprehensive set of analyses, spanning the history, justification, administration, public support and opposition, and critically the political consequences of compulsory voting. A long overdue and rigorous contribution to our understanding of one of Australias most important yet most understudied and undervalued political institutions. - Professor Simon Jackman, University of Sydney Compulsory voting has operated in Australia for a century, and remains the best known and arguably the most successful example of the practice globally. By probing that experience from several disciplinary perspectives, this book offers a fresh, up-to-date insight into the development and distinctive functioning of compulsory voting in Australia. By juxtaposing the Australian experience with that of other representative democracies in Europe and North America, the volume also offers a much needed comparative dimension to compulsory voting in Australia. A unifying theme running through this study is the relationship between compulsory voting and democratic well-being. Can we learn anything from Australias experience of the practice that is instructive for the development of institutional bulwarks in an era when democratic politics is under pressure globally? Or is Australias case sui generis best understood in the final analysis as an intriguing outlier? Matteo Bonotti is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Monash University, having previously taught at Cardiff University, Queens University Belfast, and the University of Edinburgh. His research interests include democratic theory, political liberalism, the normative dimensions of partisanship and electoral design, linguistic justice, food justice, and free speech. Paul Strangio is an Associate Professor of Politics at Monash University. Paul specialises in Australian political history with a particular focus on political leadership and political parties. He is an author and editor of eleven books.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.