ElectionsACT are pointing out that huge swathes of young Canberrans are not registered to vote:
Only 60% of eligible 18-year-olds and just under 50% of eligible 19-year-olds were enrolled by Friday 14 September. Around 80% of 20-24 year-olds were on the roll.
“Time is running out to enrol. If you have recently turned 18 or 19, or you are 17 and will turn 18 on or before polling day, you should enrol now,” Mr Green said.
Now listen up Yoof. If you’re so massively under enrolled political parties will tailor their policies to benefit the old buggers who are signed up.
So get down to the post office and get registered or you’re going to get screwed.
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What’s Your opinion?
Dear Gormless Youth of Canberra. Get registered to vote you fools
milkman said :
One can only vote for the candidates on the electoral form at the polling booth. If one or more of the candidates are retards then the youth are entitled to cast their vote as they see fit..
Democracy at work.
I have had more of my friends refusing to vote at this election than any other. the feeling seems to be, both young and old, that no party represents them, only business, and that all politicians are self interested liars anyway.
I’ve tried to convince them to vote anyway, but its a tough one to entirely disagree with.
Youth shouldn’t vote. They vote for retards.
neanderthalsis said :
See, I’m not so sure about that. Granted the nutbags will surely vote, but I like to think there is still a large group of people who are reasonably well educated and fairly informed about the issues facing society, who will vote either because they are genuinely concerned about how government is run, or simply recognise the need not to give the nutbags too much influence.
From my perspective, ditching compulsory voting just gets rid of the group of people who really don’t give a s*** either way, only vote because they are forced, and base their vote on some piece of industry propaganda they saw on TV the night before the election while they were flicking channels between A Current Affair and Big Brother.
I reckon part of the reason the quality of the political discourse in this country is so shockingly abysmal is that parties realise that the “don’t give a s***” category of votes are probably the easiest to capture. They don’t need to be smart, provide leadership, or engage with the issues, they just need to be louder than their opponent so that they are the one that gets remembered on polling day.
I have one slight qualm.
Why am I, an Inner North resident, in the same electorate division (Molonglo) as the Inner South residents.
I don’t believe we share the same priorities in life.
We need a boundary along the Lake to separate us from them.
It’s all based on AEC enrolment. If you’re current federally you’ll be right.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gorm
I like definition 7 myself:
The act of getting so many members of the opposite sex to do things your way, it amazes even yourself. However, you cannot lie to them. Stretching the truth is allowed.
Bob – “I can’t believe you got Jennifer, Melissa AND Jody to come over exactly an hour apart. And they actually think you are going to watch a T.V. show.”
Eric – “Well I will be watching T.V… among other things ;)”
Bob – “You totally just pulled a Gorm.”
*possible high fives*
I voted in the federal election, but this is my first local one, do I have to register separately for it does any one know? I’ve been hassling my younger mates to get enrolled and don’t want to be hypocrite.
johnboy said :
Oh that’s naive, surprisingly so.
arescarti42 said :
I agree that it is hard to reconcile compulsory voting with a true democracy. However, if voting were optional, the fringe dwelling loonies on either side would be those who are most likely to vote. Political parties would drift further to the fringes to accommodate the loons and we end up with people like Pauline Hanson or an Australian version of Mitt Romney running the show.
johnboy said :
You can’t be suggesting that that would be a positive outcome
What is gorm, anyway?
Either way the more youth enrolled the more youth friendly the party policies will be.
So get down to the post office and get registered or you’re going to get screwed.
The wrinklies are going to screw us either way, they have sheer numbers on the side.
The fact that so few young people are enrolled is evidence of the stupidity of compulsory voting IMO. If you’re so disinterested in the system that you can’t even be bothered enrolling to vote, even when it is compulsory, then you really shouldn’t be engaging with it.
Free ipad to two lucky enrolled voters.
Also, you get to engage with the political machine and become responsible for the actions of own government.
The benefit is that you get to shake your fist at politicians and tell them to perform better because they’re not up to scratch. The downside is well, you’re as much to blame as they are, because you voted for them.
PS: Enrolling and voting is compulsory. They may not break thumbs, but there are fines for not enrolling.