Thread:Comments:High Court of Australia dismisses appeal against conviction, compulsory voting/Consideration of "human rights" requires conviction

The defendant claims that he has a right to disregard the will of the majority regarding compulsory voting. I argue here that he does not. A holding to the contrary would deprive "The People" of the power to decide that they collectively want to use a compulsive voting system. Holding that compulsory voting systems are not enforceable would materially restrict the choices available to The People collectively. The instant holding, which affirms that The People do have the right to institute compulsory voting, does not materially restrict the choices available to The People individually. An individual who does not want to vote can conform to the law by filing a random vote, which requires minimal effort and time and satisfies the letter, although not the spirit, of the law.

The rights of The People Collectively are an important part of the rights of The People Individually. We are not talking about opposing parties here. The issue is one of the correct balance of two different kinds of rights which both attach to the same person. Weakening or restricting the power of The People Collectively harms the instant defendant, even though in this particular matter he opposes the will of the majority, because there will be many issues for which he will be aligned with the majority.

The argument made above relies upon the legitimacy of the voting system and, in particular, it assumes that compulsive voting is indeed the will of the majority. In general, citizens who do not like the status quo as determined by the majority have three choices: (1) accept it, (2) work to change it, or (3) emigrate.