Compulsory voting !

Today is a state election in New South Wales - and Australia is one of the few countries in the world that insists that every citizen of voting age presents and votes at Federal, state and council elections. There is a penalty by way of a fine for those that disregard this law.
The strange thing is that this law does not require that you actually cast a valid vote. What it does require is that you present yourself at a polling station and have your name crossed off the voter roll. You will then be handed ballot papers - but what you do from there is your business. It is perfectly legal to write obscenities on those forms - or as many people do - write " none of the above " below the list of candidates. In this way, those who have religious objections to voting can act within the law - but still not cast a ballot.
Compulsory voting raises contention. Australia is a democracy - and some argue that forcing people to vote is undemocratic. Others argue that it is democratic to insist that voters select the government that will have legal power over their lives and that to leave that selection to chance is to reduce the very ideal of democracy.
At least we are spared the spectacle of some countries where political parties desperately try to persuade their followers to make the effort and go and cast a vote. In some such cases, election results are skewed by extraneous events - such as the weather or the coinciding event of a sporting spectacle.
Some people grumble at what they consider the chore of voting, but in the course of many years of Australian history there has been no real movement to repeal the act and make voting a choice option.
After all, the one thing people complain about is always the government of the day, nomatter which side of politics is in office. It could be said that because of compulsory voting - we get the government that we deserve !