A Kiwi lawyer friend of mine, Andrew Simpson, and I were talking, he agreed, “that Bush moron has got to go,” and then he asked me if voting is compulsory here. I asked him what he meant, and he explained that it’s mandatory in New Zealand. If you don’t vote you get a fine in the mail, about $45. Unbelievable. What a terrible law.
Coda: Writes Rob Stove from Melbourne:“Alas, it isn’t only New Zealanders who are forced by law to vote or face draconian fines. We Australians must do so as well. I have repeatedly informed Americans of this national disgrace, and even the most statist among them have expressed disbelief: “You are kidding me, right?” (Conversely, what passes for the Australian “right” – i.e. the First Church of John Howard Messiah – regards compulsory voting with either bleary-eyed indifference or, more often, active approval.)
“Even distributing one’s own leaflets supporting minor parties at election time was, eight years ago – and probably still is – punishable by jail here, as the case of Albert Langer attests. (Langer is a former card-carrying Communist blowhard turned neocon blowhard, so most LRC readers will have precious little time for him. But jail?)
“A nice passage from historian Geoffrey Blainey, about the only intellectual in Australian public life who has dared condemn this form of dirigiste bullying, is germane: “The introduction in 1924 of compulsory voting … was the idea of an obscure Tasmanian senator, Herbert Payne, who held the belief – since disproved – that it would quickly lead to a ‘wonderful improvement in the
political knowledge of the people’. (A Shorter History of
Australia [Melbourne, 1995], p. 178).”
