atw: Re: OT: Grumbling About Elections...
- From: Peter Roberts <peter.roberts.02@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2012 16:41:33 +1000
You can see the preferences for each party on the electoral commission web
site. I understand that the parties are required to register them some
reasonable time ahead of the election. I looked for the last election and
was so shocked by what was registered for the major parties that I resolved
never to vote above the line again.
Peter R.
On 16 August 2012 16:35, James Hunt <writerlyjames@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I worked on a lot of elections over the years, Doing My Bit for
> Democracy, and some of the observations here surprise me.
>
> The story about the spoiled ballot paper indicates a failure of procedure.
> If you spoil a ballot paper, you can get another one, but you have to hand
> the spoiled one back. You don't have to explain anything: the electoral
> officer cannot query your reasons for requesting a new paper, and has no
> discretion about replacing it. The spoiled ballot paper is marked "Spoiled"
> and placed in the spoiled ballots envelope. At the end of the day, every
> ballot paper, including spoils, must be accounted for. In my experience,
> there were rare occasions when people would spoil a ballot paper, tear it
> up and throw it in a bin, and then go to the desk to demand a fresh one.
> They were always refused, until they brought the spoiled paper back to the
> desk. If this procedure were not followed, then the tally sheets would not
> balance, the integrity of the booth results would be compromised, and all
> the electoral officers would have to ferret through the bins until the
> missing paper(s) were found - usually very late at night. (Do you know how
> much paper an election generates? It's amazing...)
>
> If you ever have a problem, don't argue with a desk officer: go straight
> to the Officer in Charge. The OiCs are much more knowledgeable than the
> desk officers, who usually have only a few hours' online training and
> little experience. (And if you turn up at 8AM, you will find that they
> have no experience!)
>
> A few people number their Senate ballots from 1 to a zillion below the
> line, but in the booths where I worked (near Monash University, and later
> in South Brisbane), hardly anybody ever got it right. Duplicates and
> missing numbers were common.
>
> Preference deals are something for the parties to negotiate and publicise.
> I recall - vaguely - an Electoral Commission handbook detailing Senate
> preference schemes, which was issued to polling booths. A few people -
> about three in twenty-odd years - did want to see it.
>
> JH
> ==========
>
>
>
> On 16/8/2012 2:48 PM, Kath Bowman wrote:
>
> At the last election I did my usual thing of voting below the line for
> the Senate election. I start at both ends, and hope they meet in the middle
> with no errors. Last time, I somehow mucked it up, so took my ballot slip
> back to the desk and asked for another one. This is exactly what the
> adverts leading up to the election told you to do. Well, it was like asking
> for a bar of gold. I had to stand my ground and insist on a new paper
> (which I got) but it was hard going. ****
>
> I used to help my mother fill in the forms (she was blind) and she voted
> below the line too. I seemed to spend ages in the booth filling in ballots,
> but there is something inherently satisfying about putting some
> people/parties at the bottom!****
>
> ** **
>
> Cheers****
>
> Kath ****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [
> mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]
> *On Behalf Of *Kent, Christine
> *Sent:* Thursday, 16 August 2012 1:46 PM
> *To:* austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* atw: Re: OT: WARNING: Recruiter advertisements are ONLY
> trawling for resumes for tender responses!****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> The amazing thing is that in the senate votes, virtually no-one knows
> where the preferences go if you put the ‘1’ for the party above the line.
> At the last two elections I’ve asked the booth staff and all of the folk
> handing out how-to-votes. Nobody knew and the only people who were able to
> rummage out the info were the Greens. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Get-Up actually did provide information on this an election or two back –
> they made a big thing of it. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Easy answer for both upper and lower house is to number the whole damn lot
> yourself. I always do that just to make sure the parties cannot do corrupt
> deals to determine where my vote goes – not that my one vote matters much
> but one can always hope the idea goes into the group mind.****
>
> ** **
>
> I also understand that preferences only flow down 3 levels, so if you have
> 5 or 6 on your card, I don’t recall exactly, you can number those you know
> have no chance whatever of winning as 1, 2 and 3, and after that, your vote
> is tossed – doesn’t actually make logical sense, but one can live in hope
> that it works that way. Does anyone know if it still works this way?****
>
> ** **
>
> Williamstown was a great electorate for this. Their right wing candidate
> was the labor candidate and everyone else – and there were usually lot,
> were further left than labor (not hard these days). You knew the labor
> candidate was going to win so you picked any other three as 1, 2, 3 etc –
> with the labor candidate the last preference.****
>
> ** **
>
> So, it is now unlawful to vote with clear intention, but you can vote the
> lazy way and not know who’s getting your vote. Great!! (where’s that new
> sarcastic font?)****
>
> ** **
>
> Cheers,****
>
> Terry****
>
>
>
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