Pardon the analogy but the US Marines required that all members of a unit participate
in R&R and that they have fun doing it. This translated into a long trip in the desert
followed by the torching of Grade C meat and 2 cans of terrible beer. It was a court
martial offense to opt-out and a court martial offense to appear as though you were
not having a wonderful time.
The problem was solved at the destination by walking a good distant away from the
central place of authority. dumping the beer and joining a game of pitch the 'C'.
Actually we became quite good at throwing the 'C".
Seems similar to informal voting in Australia. Apart from the mistake made initially
(joined the outfit) conditions could be equated to a penal colony.
We might distance oursleves from the 'center of authority' and work on the problems.
Regards!
-Thomas Clark
Tim Churches wrote:
Karsten Hilbert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
In Australia, you also have to register to vote,...
it is compulsory to register (if you are eligible - of age and acitizen)
...
Furthermore, if you are registered on the electoralWTF !?! You mean to say you don't have the right to not vote ?
roll, it is compulsory to vote, ...
No, you must vote. Of course, there is nothing stopping you from voting informally (that, marking the ballot paper in such a way that the vote is invalid, or even just leaving the ballot paper blank) - and ballots are of course secret so there is no penalty for voting informally. However, it is illegal to incite or encourage others to vote informally. Typically the proportion of informal (invalid) votes is well under 5%, often under 1%. But you must turn up at a polling place on election day and have your name marked off, or make arangements to vote by postal ballot beforehand, or provide a valid excuse (such as severe illness) why it was impossible to vote on the. Vote is regarded as a responsibility. The whole system works very well.
Tim C
