A couple of months ago, I was informed that voting is compulsory in Australia. Yes, that's right, citizens are legally required to vote. And if you don't show up on election day, you can kiss $50 goodbye. Not a large sum, but enough that you'll actually make the effort to get out of bed on a Saturday to vote.
Yes, that's right, I said Saturday. People vote on Saturdays here. No, you can't ditch out of work on a Tuesday to get your vote on the way you can in the US.
Also, let me point out that I know NOTHING about the election system in Australia. Or in the UK, which I've been told is similar. For months, I kept being told "there will be an election anytime now." Wait, what? Elections are these floating, uncertain things, like weather or Lindsay Lohan's sanity? Apparently so. The sitting Prime Minister will call an election when his (or her! Australia got a female PM a few months back when another guy was ousted) popularity is at a peak so victory can be assured. Ah, imagine if the Bush years worked that way...
So anyway, a coworker escorted me to the post office about a month ago so I could register as a voter in Australia. Luckily this happened not a moment too soon because the election was called the following day, scheduled for August 21st.
Funny thing happens once an election is called: the government goes into caretaker mode. I probably wouldn't care about this so much if I didn't mean that it meant the government stopped spending money on everything, including advertising. Big bummer when you work in advertising. :(
The past couple of weeks I probably should have studied up. I didn't. Woops. That left me on Friday feeling incredibly ill-prepared to vote the following day. I find this ironic given how involved I was in the 2008 US election... While I understand that compulsory voting is probably a good idea in some respects (let's consider the population of the US that votes - 57% in 2008 but a mere 37% in 2006 vs. Australia's 95%), I also think it leads to uninformed idiots such as myself voting and making poor choices... though I suppose that's technically why the electoral college exists in the US. But I digress. So, what did I do? Ah, yes - I turned to my friend, ye olde internet, where I proceeded to take a quiz that gave me a sense of which party was best aligned with my beliefs. Then I read up some more on the system and the candidates.
Also kind of odd - you don't actually vote for the prime minister. You vote for candidates in your district and whichever party ends up having the most people elected selects a leader. I found out on Friday that the man who made these comments in the video happens to be in my seat and is one of the people who can become PM:
Tony Abbott happens to be the leader of the Liberal Party. Ironic, no? So yes, watching that video made my choice much easier. I'd do whatever I could to make sure THAT guy didn't become PM (Amanda, are you still alive after watching?). Australia is, for the most part, a two party system, with the occasional Green or Independent candidate getting elected.
Off I went to my friendly neighborhood polling place yesterday, feeling like a more informed voter... and immediately I was greeted by a litany of people handing me pamphlets, one-sheeters, and voting guides in order to vote appropriately for a given party. This was a bit of a revelation to me as lobbyists aren't allowed to be anywhere near a poll in the US. I walked in, nervously pronounced the name of my seat (this location allowed people from North Sydney and Warringah to vote... take a guess as to which district was mine), and collected a small green sheet of paper + a 3 foot long white paper. I sauntered up to my booth, a bit confused by the long paper, but prepared to cast my vote. For the record, the booth wasn't really a booth... yes, I could actually see how the dude next to me was voting.
Green sheet of paper required me to number the candidates by preference. It included Mr. Abbott, a member of the Labor Party, a Green candidate, an independent, and a member of the Australian Sex Party. Yes, Sex Party. Luckily someone at work had told me about the party this week so it wasn't quite as big a shock. I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere but uhhh I can't think of one. Being stunned will have to be enough.
After taking care of the green sheet, I moved on to the gargantuan paper. Apparently my options were to number EIGHTY-FOUR candidates by preference or just go with a party. Given that I was in my booth for a whopping 2 minutes, you can probably assume which route I went. I then dropped my ballots in the box and went on my merry way.
So how did the election end, you may be asking? Does the woman get to stay in office? Did this woman-hating man manage to win out? Ah, well, unfortunately I have no answer for you at this time because the election is STILL too close to call. As my friend Emily so aptly put it, "Who the f*ck do they think are? Florida? Get your sh*t together, Australia." Currently, it appears Australia will have a "hung parliament" (oh ya, there's a joke there too). Sooooo to be continued!
Also, I managed to put in process my absentee voter application for California, where I was given the following three options to submit said application:
-Mail
-Fax
-Email, but if you email, please also mail.
Ah California, you stay efficient now, ya hear?
