Today, Australia clocks up a century of compulsory voting. Over this time compulsory voting has come to be seen as a community event; a common, civic enterprise – and one in which Australians are happy to participate, even if it is compulsory. We should celebrate how special compulsory voting has made our democracy, writes history editor Dr Glenn Davies.

I love election days – the pageantry, people, and smell of sausages. In Queensland, we will be having our next state election on 27 October 2024. On Election Day, I usually help run the P&C sausage sizzle in the mornings and hand out ‘how to vote’ cards in the afternoon. It’s a great chance to see the ebb and flow of your local community — and catch up with people you haven’t seen in ages. Election Day is a community event; a common, civic enterprise — and one in which most people are happy to participate.

Australia has been acknowledged in the past to be the world’s democratic laboratory. We pioneered the secret ballot (known elsewhere as the Australian ballot), universal adult suffrage, and popularly elected upper houses. We are also one of the few English-speaking nations to have mandatory voting, and people widely support it. Basically, Australia is one of the few nations in which voting is considered both a right and a duty – and the only Commonwealth Nation.

While compulsory voting was first advocated at the federal level by Alfred Deakin at the turn of the twentieth century, Australia’s first nine federal elections were held under voluntary voting. At the federal level, voluntary voting had produced between 55 per cent and 78 per cent turnout of voters.

It was in July 1910, that the then Labor Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher (a Queenslander) moved elections to Saturdays. This was of great assistance to Australian workers, who could then participate in elections. During the Federal parliament debate for the bill on compulsory enrolment in 1911, Senator George Pearce stated:

“Too often [voting] is looked upon merely as a privilege, because people throughout the world have had to fight for it — in some instances under distressing conditions … but I venture to say that in a country like Australia, where we recognise that every man and woman should have the right to vote, that right becomes more than a privilege — it becomes a duty.”

Soon after, in 1911, compulsory registration was introduced.

On 27 March 1912, Australia introduced compulsory enrolment and, in 1914, the uniformly disliked Queensland Premier Denham legislated compulsory voting in an attempt to gain middle-class non-unionised vote for the 1915 election. Apparently, the State Government was concerned that ALP shop stewards were more effective in “getting out the vote” and that compulsory voting would restore a level playing ground. Interestingly, the introduction of compulsory voting in Queensland in 1914 became the first place in the then British Empire to do so. However the result was not what Denham planned. The first compulsory poll saw an electoral swing to Labor all over Queensland, with the election of the second Queensland Labor Government, led by TJ Ryan, and the loss of Deham’s own seat.

The significant impetus for compulsory voting at federal elections appears to have been a decline in turnout from more than 71 per cent at the 1919 election to less than 60 per cent at the 1922 election.

On 24 July 1924, Tasmanian Senator Herbert Payne introduced the Commonwealth Electoral Bill 1924 as a private member’s bill to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to make voting compulsory in federal elections. Payne felt some action was required following the record low voter turnout (59.38 per cent) at the 1922 federal election. However, neither the government nor the opposition had compulsory voting on their platforms. Intriguingly, the law to make voting compulsory apparently passed through the Parliament in only 15 minutes and in neither house was a division required — therefore, no votes were recorded against the bill. This was only the third private member’s bill to be passed into law since 1901. Senator Payne explained the principle behind his Bill:

“The presumption is that our laws are enacted by a majority of the electors represented by a majority of the members in this Parliament.”

The impact of the new Bill was immediate, with turnout at the 1925 election rising to over 91%. After this, other states quickly followed: Victoria in 1926, New South Wales and Tasmania in 1928 and Western Australia in 1936. South Australia added compulsory voting for its House Assembly in 1942..

Since the federal election of 1925 voter turnout has never been below 90 per cent and, while the number of informal votes can vary, there is little evidence about what extent this represents acts of error, apathy or protest.

Strong and effective democracy requires a minimum degree of participation by all its citizens, not just those anxious to influence the system to get something out of it. The idea is not new. The Greek historian, Thucydides, recorded the Athenian leader Pericles as saying:

‘… we do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his business: we say he has no business here at all.’

The decisions of government affect everyone and they are more likely to be made on behalf of everyone if everyone plays at least some role in selecting the members of Parliament.

Since 1924, participation in the voting process has become an accepted and entrenched activity in Australian society.

Compulsory enrolment and voting are the fundamental underpinnings of Australia’s democracy and Australians have readily accepted this with their enthusiastic participation in the electoral process. Participating in democracy should not be optional. Even if you despise politicians and the political process, turning out a couple of times every three or four years to vote for your local, state or national government is not burdensome for anyone. It forces even the most cynical individual to at least cast a fleeting glance at the political process and that is a desirable outcome.

The benefits of compulsory voting are stunning, including the consistently delivered voter turnout of more than 90%, among the best in the world and routinely 30% higher than voluntary systems. This translates into a politics that better targets the whole community. Perhaps the most important and surprising feature of compulsory voting is its popularity. Support for compulsory voting has been around 70% for half a century and has rarely dipped.

Australia has the oldest, and probably the most efficient, system of compulsory voting of any of the advanced democracies — and there is evidence of strong popular support for compulsory voting. Every opinion poll taken since 1943 has found that three in every four Australians support compulsory voting. This has always crossed party lines.

The first Australian Election Study, after the 1996 election, showed 74 per cent of respondents supported compulsory voting at federal elections; and the Australian Election Study after the 2004 election was still showing 74 per cent in support. A Morgan poll in 2005 showed 71 per cent support; and an Ipsos-Mackay Study, also in 2005, showed 74 per cent. Adelaide University’s Lisa Hill suggests:

‘…this is probably a function of the fact that their relationship to the state has normally been a friendly one.’

Australians have not looked upon the compulsion to vote as particularly objectionable or onerous. Most Australians regard voting not so much as a right but as a fairly undemanding civic duty. Voting is far less onerous than other compulsory civic duties — such as paying taxes, sending your children to school and jury duty. It is seen as a normal part of Australian political culture and has wide support in the Australian electorate.

Yes, it’s true, that compulsory voting forces people to engage with their democracy. But our democracy needs more occasions such as election day where we get together and engage in a shared activity. For the most part, this should not be as a result of compulsion. However, there is room for at least one occasion, held every few years, when all citizens are required to come together in a common, civic enterprise. The requirement that we turn up to vote meets that test.

It’s important to remember on this day, one hundred years later, that our robust and stable democracy is founded in our hard-won civic duty to participate in the voting process.