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The Forum > Article Comments > Where is our politics going? > Comments

Where is our politics going? : Comments

By Don Aitkin, published 20/7/2017

I think we are seeing a slow shift to something with which Europeans are more familiar than Australians, a more-or-less stable multi-party system.

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Alan B.,

I am well aware of how the preferential voting system works.

Of course there are many occasions where the party with the most first preferences doesn't get the seat. And rightly so.

But the winner is NEVER EVER the candidate with the FEWEST first preferences, because that candidate is first to get eliminated and their preferences redistributed.

As for proportional voting, there are arguments for and against. But you seem to have failed to notice that it's with senate preferences that most of the deals are done.

I think as more people abandon the major parties, HTV cards will become much less significant. I've never voted a particular way because a HTV card said to.
Posted by Aidan, Friday, 21 July 2017 12:38:59 AM
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'In first past the post that candidate with the majority of votes wins the seat!'

The same is true in preferential voting. in FPTP a candidate can win with 25 per cent of the vote provided that all the other candidates received a smaller share. In that case it could be said that three voters in four DID NOT vote for the winning candidate.

Ranking voting systems as more or less democratic is a waste of time. Each of them offers voters different sets of choices and different rules. I prefer preferential because it gives voters more choices. Maybe some voters don't want any choice other than their usual party preference. Fine, but others do.
Posted by Don Aitkin, Sunday, 23 July 2017 4:37:50 PM
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In that case Don you should be in agreement with voters being able to extinguish their vote with no preferences or after just one or 2 preferences.

I strenuously object to my vote filtering down to someone I definitely do not want to elect.

If for example I can see only 5 or 6 people I want to elect to the senate I should be entitled to vote for only that number.
Posted by Hasbeen, Sunday, 23 July 2017 7:46:28 PM
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Don -

"Ranking voting systems as more or less democratic is a waste of time."
No it isn't. The system Australia uses is the best in the world!
Of course this doesn't mean there's no room for improvement.

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Hasbeen -

'Tis not just about who you want to get in, but also who you want to keep out. After you've filled out your 5 or 6 boxes then unless you think all the other candidates are EQUALLY bad then it's worth continuing.

IMO people should be allowed to actively exhaust votes, but not to passively exhaust votes.
Posted by Aidan, Sunday, 23 July 2017 9:22:27 PM
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Hasbeen, yes, I agree with you. It's not a high priority for me, however.
Posted by Don Aitkin, Sunday, 30 July 2017 7:54:32 PM
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