Comments on: Why getting out the vote is so bloody important

By: Judith

Judith — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:10:55 +0000

Oops, sorry–just found that you’d blogged about this just recently. Must check my feedreader more frequently! But still, any further thoughts, I’d love to hear ‘em.

By: Judith

Judith — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:06:46 +0000

Hi Justine,

I wonder if you have had any discussion with your USian friends about Australia’s compulsory voting. I recently posted on open salon my perspective, as a leftie Aussie, on the US election, and had a spirited discussion in the comments about the merits or otherwise of compulsory voting (which for the record, I am all for). And related to that–do your USian friends have any opinions on why a nation so hell-bent on imposing democracy on the rest of the world (OK, their GOVERNMENT has been so hell-bent…) is so sanguine about the way so many of its own citizens are actively discouraged and even prevented from voting?

And why isn’t there more activism around this enormous problem of institutionalised disenfranchisement?

I’ve been mighty puzzled about this for some time, but never more so in the past weeks.

Cheers,

Judith, who is not US-bashing but wants to know

By: john cash

john cash — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:22:16 +0000

In re the franchise: We also forget that the right to vote also means the right to run for office. Don’t just vote; run!

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:23:33 +0000

i didnt know that.

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:51:08 +0000

Thanks for putting it in historical perspective. In this election, we're seeing a lot of attempts to suppress voters, especially African-American voters too.