VOTING: SHOULD IT BE OPTIONAL?

We often here that people could not care less about their Federal Government for various reasons. With forced voting, we can often see donkey votes and votes based on tradition or lack of knowledge. A donkey vote is when someone leaves their ballot paper blank. The vote counters can not trace the person who made the donkey vote, so it is deemed a useless piece of paper. Is it time that Australia adopted an optional electoral voting system in the footsteps of countries such as the USA, Canada, UK and New Zealand?