School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses

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A most compelling decision: why Australia forces its citizens to vote

Allan, Katherine ( 2013)

Most Australians probably would not know when it became compulsory for them to vote. The introduction of this legislation has certainly not lodged in the national consciousness in the same way as the arrival of the First Fleet or the Anzac story. Electoral system history is the domain of specialists. They record that it became mandatory for all Australians to vote in federal elections in 1924, yet there are already problems with this statement, in part because it did not became mandatory for the original occupants of this country to vote for a further forty years.1 Furthermore, every form of compulsory voting legislation that has operated in Australia has compelled voters to turn up on election day, collect and mark a ballot paper, and have that fact recorded on the electoral roll, but not to actually vote. (From Introduction)