Neilster
Posts: 1618
Joined: 10/27/2003 From: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia Status: offline
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I'm perplexed at how difficult it is to actually vote in the U.S. I may be wrong but it appears you have to register as Republican, Democrat or independent. Then the election is on a Tuesday (I know there are historical reasons for this but we now no longer live in an age where farmers couldn't travel on a Sunday because it is the day of rest and for going to church) and you often have to wait in line for hours to cast your vote, with wildly differing systems in every state. Then you have hurdle packs of lawyers, monitors, monitors of monitors etc... In Australia you just enrol to vote. You can vote for the compulsory marijuana party if you want, as long as you're enrolled. Voting is on a Saturday and there is a single national system. Generally you wait for a few minutes and we have a very high tech voting system... Someone checks your name off and you are given the ballot papers for the upper and lower houses. In the booth there is a pencil attached to a string. You either put a "1" next to your choice or number the candidates in order. If you can't do that properly you didn't deserve a vote anyway, but if necessary someone is there to explain it. Then you put each paper in a box. The result is generally known within a couple of hours of the polls closing with no controversy. We may be a bit behind the times down here Additionally, in response to radic202 above, the political analysts I've heard suggest there is much to be said for the parliamentary system, but I can't remember all the arguments. There are certainly some disadvantages to the Electoral College system, such as the over-importance of large swing states, discouragement of voter turnout in others and the favouring of smaller states. Democracy has a way of working stuff out anyway, whatever the system. Cheers, Neilster
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