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Comment by Khaine | Hacker News Reader

Kinda. The requirement is for the person to enroll, attend a polling station and have their name marked off the electoral roll as attending, receive a ballot paper and take it to an individual voting booth, mark it, fold the ballot paper and place it in the ballot box. The act does not explicitly state that a choice must be made, it only states that the ballot paper be 'marked'. According to the act how a person marks the paper is completely up to the individual.

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Well, I'd definitely draw 'inappropriate things' if I was forced to do it.

It's not compulsory to register to vote.

edit: apologies, that's completely incorrect.

While it is compulsory, you are incredibly unlikely to be fined for not registering. The AEC typically sends a reminder every few years if they have information on your residential address from another government agency.

Once you are enrolled though, if you fail to vote at an election you will be asked to explain your absence and, without a satisfactory excuse, fined.

It looks like the AEC now has the power to automatically enrol you too.

Yes it is.

From the Australian Electoral Commission's website: http://www.aec.gov.au/enrol/

It is compulsory by law for all eligible Australian citizens to enrol and vote in federal elections, by-elections and referendums.

You are eligible to enrol if you:

    * are an Australian citizen, or eligible British subject,
    * aged 18 years and over, and
    * have lived at your address for at least one month.

Interesting, I've never seen this spelling of "enrol" before.

I would also draw penii if voting was compulsory.

Australia uses British English, and enrol is the British spelling.

Ah, the joys of localization.

And illegal to encourage people to invalidate their ballots.

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