Stephen Bain wrote:
On 7/13/07, Ray Saintonge <saintonge(a)telus.net>
wrote:
I wouldn't blame either the WMF or the
election committee for this. We
aren't running a kindergarten. If eligible voters can't be bothered to
look when an election is advertised in all reasonable places, they get
the result they deserve.
That presumes that people know when the election is going to happen in
the first place. This election was not advertised in all reasonable
places; it was not mentioned in the anonnotice, for example.
What's the point of notifying people who are not eligible to vote?
Democratic
institutions are not about the responsibilities of the ruling
structure, but about the responsibilities of the citizenry. Do
countries which make voting obligatory get any better results?
We get very good turnouts here in Australia. It's much rarer for a
leader to be elected on 25% of the possible vote than it is in a
voluntary system.
Bu does imposing this on people make the results any better. The right
to vote should include the right not to vote.
Ec