Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
Although compulsory voting is comparatively rare and imposes a small but
important burden on all eligible voters, Australians overwhelmingly support it.
This chapter has described strong public support for Australia’s compulsory voting
laws, the resulting high rates of voter turnout and the ease with which Australians
areabletocastavote.Finally,thechapterhasgivenanoverviewofthetwo
largest families of electoral systems – majoritarian and consensual – as well as
those systems that combine elements of both. While majoritarian systems, such
as plurality and preferential voting, provide political stability, they offer no
representation for losing candidates and relatively little for opposition parties.
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