Last election 30,500 votes decided the winner, and as of this morning there are roughly half a million people between 18 and 24 who are not yet enrolled, including 40% of all 18 and 19 year olds.
So make them fill in the damn form.
It takes about 5 minutes, and they can use a smartphone. They have until 8pm tonight.
Some people are bright-eyed idealists, and will encourage you to vote by explaining how representative democracy works, and how parliamentary systems allow nations to pursue agendas based on freedom of choice while preventing colossal abuses of power inherent in non-democratic or less representative systems.
Others are a little bit more cynical, and feel that they’re simply choosing between the lesser of Who cares and Not that person, but at least they vote.
Then there are the apathetic sons of bitches who discourage voting because they feel that those in power have merely risen to the top of a festering heap, who believe that those stand in the corridors of power and make the decisions that make or break our lives are not the most competent, the most moral, or even the best intentioned. That the best politicians are simply the ones who can say the prettiest words, who can carve the loveliest veneer for their platform, and the ones who can play a filthy game the best. “So why bother even voting or enrolling?” they’ll say…
Do not listen to these people, they are fools of the highest quality.
Whenever bastards get into power in this country the electoral process put them there through either popular intent, accident, or apathetic indifference.
You can prevent that by preferencing another less evil bastard, or (heaven forbid) preferencing someone whose platform makes sense to you.
But you can only do that if you vote.
Important decisions are only made by those who show up, and those who vote at the very least get to be counted for having helped decide.
Those who refuse to vote won’t get to defend themselves by saying “I voted for the other one” when they inevitably complain about the direction the country is headed in, as they renounced their ability to affect the election outcome.
You have until 8pm AEST tonight to enrol. You can do it here, online and it takes about 5 minutes.
PS: It is legally compulsory to enrol, there’s a 1 Penalty Unit fine (currently $170) for failure to enrol after 21 days of eligibility, and a $20 fine for each occasion you have failed to vote, but its at the whim of the AEC if they choose to prosecute.
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