Australia has the oldest and probably the most efficient system of compulsory voting among
the established democracies. The main reason for its introduction in the 1920s was to
increase turnout, a goal it has achieved without difficulty. Compulsory voting has also made
a major contribution to the long-term stability of the party system. However, the compulsory
voting system has had two disadvantages. As in other countries which have introduced
compulsory voting, historically there has been a very high level of invalid votes, although the …