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The Forum > Article Comments > On the topic of 'giving preferences' ... > Comments

On the topic of 'giving preferences' ... : Comments

By Andrew Bartlett, published 18/8/2010

Many members of the public have a mistaken impression of how the Senate balance of power usually operates.

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Examinator, speaking of personal problems. Go look in a mirror. Vote BLANK people, it's our only hope. ;))
Posted by bitey, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 1:20:16 PM
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True, preferences are not "given" but that is usually the biggest media exposure most minor parties achieve.

In the case of the Greens, it is not very surprising that Labor is the beneficiary - from memory it always has been this way. The Democrats at least tended to always present a split ticket, something I believe they are sticking with this time around (at least for the Senate).

And the conservative minor parties tend to favour the Coalition (unless an extraordinary reason arises).

Perhaps our modern lives are too saturated that having different voting methods: local, state, federal (house & senate) etc etc can get just a little confusing? Wouldn't it be great to have a debate to sort out which voting system is better suited for everyone and just stick with it in ALL elections? It would make so much more sense since most Aussies move all over the country.

http://www.currentglobalperceptions.blogspot.com/
Posted by jorge, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 2:11:48 PM
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I agree with Pemmy and Ludwig. To say that preferences reflect voters’ preferences because they can number all the boxes below the line is disingenuous. There are so many candidates and parties that most voters vote above the line – about 95%, according to the ABC.

http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/guide/glossary.htm#group_voting_ticket

If all voters actually voted below the line it would probably take months to actually count the vote. At the last election here in WA there were 54 senate candidates, yielding possible voting permutations for each voter of:

230,843,697,339,241,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Unless the preferences directions of their chosen party coincide with the actual preference of the voter then their preferences are not in fact represented by the way their vote is cast. Add to this the complex preference deals done by the parties, which direct votes as much by electoral advantage as ideological affinity, and we have a recipe for the election of candidates almost no-one wants (like Senator Fielding)
Posted by Rhian, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 2:57:41 PM
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Examinator, any voting system that can possibly make your vote count where you specifically don’t want it to count is a total affront to democracy and to the very purpose of voting!

When you stop and think about it, the ‘first past the post’ system is democratic, the optional preferential system is likewise and the compulsory preferential system just completely isn’t!

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We should all put in a blank ballot paper for two very good reasons:

1. The choice of major candidates is dismal and it really is a case of either picking whichever we feel is the slightly less terrible of two fundamentally flawed options, or choosing to vote for neither of them, and only voting for some other candidate if he/she has a realistic chance of being one of the two front-runners in their seat. If a minor candidate has no projected chance of winning in any particular seat, then to vote for one of them and preference any the other minor candidates ahead of Labor or Liberal would be futile as your vote would filter down and end up counting for one of the liblabs.

2. The voting system is so utterly flawed that we should be protesting by not having a bar of it.

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Jorge, we should indeed be striving to uniformalise and simplify the voting system so that everyone can easily understand it.

The first big step would be to introduce the optional preferential system across the board, in the upper and lower houses in every state and federally.
Posted by Ludwig, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 3:02:31 PM
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It can be daunting to attempt to vote below the line in the Senate. I also agree that an optional preferential system would be preferable.
However, given that on Saturday we will have to work with the system we got, the challenge becomes about how to make sure one is happy with the way one's preferences are allocated.
Thanks to this site https://www.belowtheline.org.au/ I have created my own how to vote card - if everyone who wants to make an informed vote created their own how to vote card then you keep control of your preferences.
I would strongly recommend that OLO readers circulate this link to their networks.
Posted by BAYGON, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 4:36:47 PM
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Today I spent a bit of time on line trying to find out how the ALP, Libs and Greens had distributed their preferences for those who choose to vote above the line. Couldn't find anything on their web sites, or on the Australian Electoral Commission. The ALP did direct its supporters to vote above the line, which is like asking them to fly blindfolded if they don't know exactly what they are voting for. It is this sort of secrecy that gave us Senator Fielding in Victoria. So I'll be taking the time to vote below the line for the NSW Senate, because I have to make sure Karl Bitar is the very last number. If there was an Optional Preferential Voting Party it would be my number one!
Posted by Candide, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 11:06:05 PM
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