Michael Gorey

There’s been a call for compulsory attendance voting in local government elections following the latest municipal polls.

A large number of dummy candidates stood in some Melbourne councils to pull votes from family and friends to direct towards mainly party political aspirants.

The postal voting system makes it easier for dummies to stand, so the story goes, because they don’t need to campaign and it doesn’t cost them much financially.

I don’t have strong views on the subject, but can understand the argument and tend to agree that postal voting should be scrapped.

Local government wants to be taken seriously. It should play by the same rules as the big league.
Whether voting should be compulsory; that’s another matter.

I think we’re the only country in the world that forces citizens to vote … hardly democratic. It means our election campaigns are unsophisticated, personality-driven affairs with little focus on issues other than the economy.

These articles might be of interest:

• Council elections
• The right to vote
• Local government taxation