Political Awareness

[jillamanda]

I'm curious about the political awareness of American youth. Here in Oz, we have compulsory voting. Everyone is expected to be on the electoral role at age 18. Triplej, the government youth network, whose target audience is 18 - 25 year olds, have a registration form at their website, which can be downloaded.

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/rockenrol/

They are also sponsors of one the biggest music festival this country has (and it's BIG, we have alot of music festivals) - the Big Day Out. They have a marquee at each venue where eligible people can enrol. The BDO travels right round Australia during January every year. I went to one a few years ago in Melbourne and there were 44,000 people there.

I think it's a great idea. The station itself is as unbiased as a radio station can be, maybe leaning slightly towards the left, and tries gives equal representation to all political factions.

Does this happen in the US? Is there a push for young people to register there? How are they made politically aware? eg via the media, school, family......

[Pistol Pete]

Compulsory voting?! I thought that died with the Soviet Union. :confused:

Here you can register, or not, at 18. You can vote, or not. Some people always vote. Some never. Sometimes none of the candidates are worth voting for, or against. We get to make those choices.

[jillamanda]

I think you might have misunderstood me, PP. Just because voting's compulsory, doesn't mean we have to vote for someone we don't like. If none of the candidates appeal, then you put in what is called an 'informal vote', and basically that means you vote for no one. You can even scribble something on your ballot paper like 'You all suck, I'm not voting for any of you'. That means your vote is still counted as an 'informal vote', or a vote of no confidence. I often think it'd be good if more people did it, then ALL political parties would sit up and listen to their electorate!!! The ballots are all secret, you go in and get your name crossed off the electoral role and they give you your ballot papers and you go off and vote.

I refuse to debate politics in this country with someone who says they've never voted. People DO get away with it, they just don't register in the first place. Sometimes they might get caught, but the fine's only $10, I think. I got fined once for not voting in a local council election!! But that was a conscientious decision due to the way the election was handled and the fact that I'm not a ratepayer.

So do many young people vote there?

[Pistol Pete]

Originally posted by jillamanda
So do many young people vote there?

Sadly, or maybe fortunately, lots of young people don't vote. The young are mainly concerned with their iPods, massive speakers in their cars, and Spong Bob Squarepants. The big majority that do vote, usually vote for the wackiest candidate out there that has some far out agenda to save mold, or some such nonsense.
Each federal election shows less people voted than the time before. Soon, I figure we'll have a government elected by a 112 year old guy who falls on the button as he dies. :(

[Eddy's Geist]

I would like to see the option of "None of the above" on ballots so as voter disatifaction (or whatever reason) could be noted and tallied. Hey, give the pundits and talking heads something new to chortle on about :)