urbpan | A question for my Australian friends:

No, it's not about venomous spiders or snakes or monotremes, as much as I love those things. My question has to do with the Australian voting system. As I understand it (my disclaimer before exposing my utter and typical American ignorance of any culture other than my own) voting in Australia is required. First of all: is this so? Second, if so, how is this enforced?

In the United States, voting is entirely optional, in fact, there are obstacles in place that could potentially skew the vote. First of all, it's always on a Tuesday, when most people have work or school. The polls are open before and after work hours, but many people find it too much of a hassle to figure out where their polling place is, find a place to park, wait in line, and do it. Sometimes they run over little kids in order to find a place to park.

Also (and this is what made me make this post in the first place, thanks to the video

sin_agua posted, in which several celebrities remind us Americans that we have to register to vote) you have to register to vote. That is, you have to go through some kind of government hoop, which depending where you live (and your internet access) is as easy as getting a hotmail account or as big a pain in the ass as getting a dog license (go to city hall, prove identity, certify rabies vaccination--or did the 14th amendment get rid of the rabies certification requirement?). I realize that in order to prevent voter fraud, it's necessary to keep track of these things, but it makes me wonder: In a place where voting is MANDATORY (like Australia, maybe? and Brazil?) do you have to go to the trouble to register first, or does the government keep track some other way?

I could google this, but hey I know some people in Australia, and I'd love to hear it from you guys.

Plus I'm already splitting my attention between posting this and listening to the VP debate train wreck, where Biden and Palin seem to be participating in entirely different conversations. Even if I agreed with her on anything (book banning, secession, creationism) I couldn't vote for her because her voice makes me want to climb the goddamn walls. WORDS ENDING IN I-N-G SOUND LIKE "ING" not "EN." Yer darn tootin' we're gonna be workin' on a whole mess a problems you betcha! Good god, can't the leader of the free world sound like an educated adult?! Even Dan Quayle enunciated his gaffes correctly. She sounds like she's running for treasurer of the student council of a St. Paul public high school. Except she lies more.