LONGINUS wrote:The American system came about after decades of abuse of the people by an occupying force, hence its designed to reward and involve citizens within the election process that they had just fought for the right to put in place.
As a recent article in the New Yorker stated, the American "system" is really just a bunch of patches upon patches, and it actually owes a considerable debt to Australia.
Guess what, we invented the supplied-ballot electoral method!
Back in the day, more or less after the "abuse of the people by an occupying force", US citizens -- in order to vote -- had to publicly attend an open forum and supply their own hand written vote, or in some states, actually say it out loud or vote with their hands. This was done on the basis that if you were a real Man, courageous etc, then you'd be willing to state your convictions in front of the mob.
This opened things up for extraordinary sh*t. One 19th century presidential election resulted in the deaths of 89 citizens of New York, after they'd been set upon by enforcers for the other team.
Result, duh, lots of people thought better of voting. Not that all that many people COULD vote anyway; you had to be a man of property, only then could you be trusted to make a sensible decision.
The secret ballot system using forms supplied by an independent electoral arbiter -- invented in Victoria in 1924 -- changed the face of elections in the US after it was finally introduced after a long battle by a couple of avid Congressional fans. But the systems were still in the hands of the states; Virginia didn't introduce the secret ballot until 1961.
For what it's worth, I'm kind of a fan of compulsory voting (as well as the secret ballot and independent arbiter), it encourages everyone to take part and discourages the efforts of special interest groups to "swing" elections. Non-mandatory voting is a weakness of the US system, not a strength.