this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2024
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Quick reminder: In Switzerland, we have the ability to vote on everything. We get educated like that from the early childhood on, that voting is important and necessary. Even with that concept, the average voter participation is between 40-50%. So even if you might think a lot of people are not voting - yes, true, but you will never be able to increase it much above 50% IMHO.
In norway, the lowest voter turnout we've ever had is 75.4%
Fuck me, that’s awesome. Then Switzerland and the US are clearly doing something wrong. What is the average voter participation in Norway and how often can people vote?
I just looked at the primary elections where we pick the prime minister and parliament, not the smaller municipal elections.
Anyway, it's on average around 77-78%.
It's actually a bit surprising. When I saw these numbers, I thought "shit, 77% is our average? That sucks", heheh. Guess it's pretty decent after all
Yeah world class really.
I forgot to mention that we vote every 4 years on a municipal level and every 4 years on a national government level (offset by two years like summer and winter olympics).
Oh I had to vote three times last year (USA). Usually it’s twice but they called an august election in my state to try to pass a law to make ballot initiatives harder because abortion was a ballot initiative for our November election. I suppose you could have 6 elections in one year here: 2 primaries which don’t have to be the same day or any of the real election days, then quarterly elections, February is possible but I don’t think I’ve seen it, May is common, august I’ve seen once, and November happens basically every year and is this important one usually. Oh also there are emergency elections when someone dies or is forced to step down. And you kinda just have to keep track of it yourself and they don’t really tell you all this in school. You’re taught that elections are on the first Tuesday following a Monday in November. Oh and you don’t get time off work for it. Professional jobs are often cool with you being out the door asap or needing to shift your hours a bit, but most jobs aren’t.
So yeah I’d argue our lazy and uninformed populace is only one reason why we have shit turnout.
That sounds a little complicated as well, so it seems that might be a barrier to entry as well.
I can also imagine that people who have to work extra to make ends meet might not have the luxury of taking time off to vote?
Exactly. Now you can vote early. But it’s an ordeal. And by mail but it’s a whole thing. And you’re exhausted and working two jobs to try to cover rent. Politics really isn’t that relevant to your life is it?
Welcome to the heart of the empire.
Votes by mail sound a bit risky to me as well. I know the postal service has lost packages and stuff before. Are there special envelopes? Special ways to tell that the vote hasn't been lost or "lost"?
Also, is it at least free? Postage already paid for?
Australia has mandatory voting which is an interesting one. Quick search tells me the last turnout was nearly 90%.
It's mandatory voting in Australia, but you just need to turn up and mark your name off the list and you won't get hassled to vote. But I guess, once you're there....might as well vote.
And the fine for not voting is $50 or so, and the electoral commission will take most reasonable excuses and waive the fine if you don't make it.
So it's more like a, "come on guys, do your civic duty" kind of thing as opposed to MANDATORY, and 90-something percent of the voting population in Australia just rolls with it.
Bonus: At most polling places you can usually get a "democracy sausage" for a small donation to a local cause, so most people will wander in just for that.
Edit: voting is on a Saturday, so most people don't have to take time from work to vote. There are legislative provisions that say that employers have to allow people time to vote if they work Saturdays, and polling stations are open from 8am to 6pm, which generally allows a window of opportunity for most people to vote without disrupting their day too much.
There are also postal votes of course, which can be ordered via phone/letter/internet and sent to your address. You can fill them in and send them back early, so there's no real reason to not vote.