We in New Zealand, in contrast, are sometimes in danger of taking this privilege for granted.
In a self-centred and individualistic age, too many of us are more concerned with our own space and getting ahead than with wider issues and with national and local politics.
It is only when we are obviously and directed affected that many of us are spurred into action.
Not surprisingly, voter turnout continues to fall, although at the last local elections in Dunedin the percentage of eligible voters taking part bumped back over 50%.
As recently as 1998 it was as high as 65.4%.
Over the next month and a-half, we have a chance to have a say on whom our representatives will be.
Last Friday, nominations closed for local authorities, health boards and licensing trust elections, with hundreds putting their names forward.
The challenge, as always, will be to vote in as informed a way as possible.
It behooves us to try to read and listen and learn about the various candidates.
In small communities, word of mouth is a persuasive supplement to candidate statements and information from key sources like this newspaper.
Local government information is not always the most exciting stuff, but it needs to be taken seriously. In larger places, the task can be especially daunting, and well-known names have a long head start.
However, just because someone has a high profile or has been on a particular council before does not immediately mean they are a better choice.
It is especially difficult to know how to cast votes for the regional council or the health board, where candidates might be even less known.
There is a tendency, for example, for voters to tick health board candidates with a health background.
However, that is far from necessarily the primary qualification.
The Otago Regional Council's Dunedin constituency, meanwhile, sees all six incumbents restanding, including one - Louise Croot - who has been on the council since it was formed in 1989.
Men and women need to be elected not just on their stand on specific issues but also their general attitudes and their intrinsic capacity.
It does take ability, as well as common sense, to be an effective councillor.
An issue to consider for almost all local territorial authority candidates is their attitude to spending.
How do councillors balance the need for community facilities and other spending against the need to limit rate rises?
Are they, fundamentally, too spendthrift or too parsimonious?
And where should the balance lie?
Each area has its own issues.
In Dunedin, for example, where are councillors on environmental/development issues?
Are they in favour of offshore oil exploration?
If so, why?
If not, why?
Do the advantages of a tall hotel outweigh aesthetic considerations?
Is too much - or not enough - money being spent on the needs of cyclists?
Disturbingly for local democracy, the Government is progressively centralising power through national standards and guidelines, notably through the Resource Management Act.
It has also restricted the power of local government through changes to the Local Government Act.
There will be some who believe councils must stick to their core roles and who will applaud this restriction.
But there is no doubt that local decision-making has been and is being drained.
Notwithstanding the limitations - with the relative ineffectiveness of the government-controlled health boards a prime example - local democracy has an important part to play in our system of government and representation.
Democracy, with all its flaws, is precious and to be treasured not just nationally but also at the local level.
