February 29, 2004
I missed voting because I was having group sex. Okay, so this article is pretty funny, if only for that statement. Reading it, however, you think to yourself, "Why would someone want to tell their local precinct why they didn't come to vote?" The answer, as near as I can gather, is that you have to pay a fine if you don't perform your civic duty (and don't have a valid excuse). Does anyone know if this is true throughout Australia? It's news to me.
Hmm. That is very interesting. I don't know who it would favor if this was done in the States.
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Wow, so I read all the comments on Fark about this article, and I actually learned some things:
*If you're a registered voter in Australia, and you don't vote, you pay a AU$40 fine. If you're not registered, no problem. If you don't like any of the candidates, just put your ballot in blank.
*Australia has an instant runoff system, where you rank the candidates instead of just picking one. If 50% of the people pick Bush #1 and McCain #2, and the other half pick Gore #1 and McCain #2, McCain is the new president.
*Nimbin (from where the group sex woman hailed) is a modern day hippie commune. Here is an assessment for non-Aussies that was posted:
"Imagine Woodstock. Sex, drugs, music, and more sex and drugs. Generally good times, if pubic lice and shared toothbrushes are your thing.
Now, imagine an entire community set up on this premise of an alternative lifestyle. This is the town of Nimbin. For several generations, self-proclaimed hippies, "shamans", drug-law reformists and people simply wanting to score dope have descended onto this small community in NSW. The truly hard core (or merely maryjane-lethargic) lingered on, to set up camp, to have their offspring, to go into hemp-related business ventures, or to protest in a very relaxed way at the government's anti-drug policies by engaging in constant acts of reefer-related civil disobedience.
This alternative community simultaneously acts as the most determined political power to legalise all drugs, whilst simultaneously destroying the credibility of every other pro-pot party. In truth, the average long-term Nimbin resident is a poor advertisement for legalising anything stronger than decaf java, and their political message, whilst vocal, suffers credibility issues when evaluted by those not heavily stoned."
posted by natedogg at 05:13PM CST on February 29