Today was Australia's federal election.
And here we are required to vote. It's not optional. YOU'RE AUSTRALIAN, YOU MUST VOTE. THE END.
Last state election I forgot to vote. I know, after being inundated with glossy advertising photos of the candidates, each sporting the exact same cheesy looking 'trust me' grins, how on earth could I forget to vote?
Easy for me I guess. I'm a bit of a recluse (or insert appropriate alternative here - eccentric, loner, homebody, anti social misfit), so I don't go out and socialise much with other people who I could have interesting political type conversations with in order to remind me. And although I knew the election was coming up, it didn't occur to me that that particular Saturday was THE ACTUAL DAY.
And back then Charlie was a little itty bitty baby who had a humungous amount of will power when it came to refusing to sleep, so I was still amazingly sleep deprived at that time. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it, so there!
In a nutshell, I forgot. Ooops, bad me.
Then I received a fine for not voting.
Twenty five whole dollars!!!!! The cheek of the government. Didn't they know I had a legitimate excuse? I'm sure new parent sleep deprivation is on the list of good reasons to be excused from voting. Surely.
But I sheepishly paid it, refusing the urge to justify myself to the young guy at the post office who handled the payment, and I made a mental note to never be such a dumb ass again.
So now you can see why I'm relieved that I remembered this time.
I am starting to think that a $25 fine is better than standing around in line for hours waiting to vote on a lesser evil. That said I did do my duty and vote, I drove to the next suburb so I could vote absentee and avoid the queues. It was a good choice and I was in and out in 10 minutes.
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