19 October 2012

Don't get exhausted this election, keep numbering!

| Tom Swann
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Election campaigns are exhausting, but don’t exhaust your vote. Keep numbering!

You have to number at least 1-5 or 1-7. But leaving at that means your vote might not count for the final seat.

In the ACT, the final seat usually depends on a tight race fought through preferences, chosen by the voters and not the parties. If you don’t choose further preferences and your numbers run out during allocation, your ballot paper is put aside and you wont get to have a say for that final seat.

So if you would prefer someone over someone else, make sure you give them a number. And if you really don’t want someone to win, make sure you preference the others.

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johnboy said :

I found it very hard to keep voting after about ten.

Stil, 10 worthwhile candidates for seven seats is no bad place to be at.

Hey JB, are you prepared to reveal how you distributed your preferences? I know this is a personal thing, so “no comment” is fine, but I’m curious as to how your insider knowledge of all things Canberran affects your decisions in the democratic process.

I think that I read somewhere in the last couple of days about a Canberra student that won a debate on the premise that you should have a license to be allowed to vote. Perhaps our system is as close as could be democratically achieved by devaluing or exhausting the votes of those who were too lazy or uninformed to keep numbering.

You are technically voting for 5 or 7 members of parliament. Therefore you would need to vote in order of preference 1 to 5 or 7. You are technically NOT voting for a party. If you only put a 1 in, It will go towards that candidate, but you will be voting for that candidate’s personal preferences for the rest of the seats, NOT YOUR OWN.

Wrong. The vote expires

They prefer it if you vote for the number of seats. Your vote is counted if you don’t. You can vote for one candidate & stop & your vote will count for that one candidate before it is exhausted.

lostinbias said :

I put down preferences up to 9 in Ginninderra, and I voted more along candidate lines than party lines. Glen Takkenberg, you were very high up on mine. My first preference was also a RiotACT user…

Not bloody Matt Watts I hope!!!!

I put down preferences up to 9 in Ginninderra, and I voted more along candidate lines than party lines. Glen Takkenberg, you were very high up on mine. My first preference was also a RiotACT user…

pirate_taco said :

bundah said :

colourful sydney racing identity said :

Masquara said :

bd84 said :

There’s also no minimum number of boxes you need to number to have your vote counted (contrary to what the ballot paper says), you can put just 1 in a box and nothing else and it would be a valid vote.

.

That’s not what the poll staffer told me – he definitely said I had to number 1 to 7.

You were told wrong then.

Yep when i was waiting in line to register to vote i heard two staff members say 1 to 7 in response to questions from voters!

The electoral commission advises people to vote for a minimum equal to the number of seats, but I have spoken previously with the electoral commissioner about this, and technically there is no requirement to vote more than 1 person for it to count as a valid vote, it’ll just get exhausted very quickly.

Thanks for the support shirty_bear!

Glen Takkenberg
Pirate Party ACT for Ginninderra

Damn wish I’d known. Would have stopped at four!

bundah said :

colourful sydney racing identity said :

Masquara said :

bd84 said :

There’s also no minimum number of boxes you need to number to have your vote counted (contrary to what the ballot paper says), you can put just 1 in a box and nothing else and it would be a valid vote.

.

That’s not what the poll staffer told me – he definitely said I had to number 1 to 7.

You were told wrong then.

Yep when i was waiting in line to register to vote i heard two staff members say 1 to 7 in response to questions from voters!

The electoral commission advises people to vote for a minimum equal to the number of seats, but I have spoken previously with the electoral commissioner about this, and technically there is no requirement to vote more than 1 person for it to count as a valid vote, it’ll just get exhausted very quickly.

Thanks for the support shirty_bear!

Glen Takkenberg
Pirate Party ACT for Ginninderra

From the Elections ACT site:

You should fill in at least as many squares as there are vacancies in your electorate: 7 for Molonglo, 5 for Brindabella or Ginninderra.

If you don’t fill in this many squares (even if you vote for only one candidate) your vote will still be counted. However, to make the most of your vote, we suggest you continue to fill in the squares until all your preferences are recorded. You may fill in every square if you wish.

colourful sydney racing identity said :

Masquara said :

bd84 said :

There’s also no minimum number of boxes you need to number to have your vote counted (contrary to what the ballot paper says), you can put just 1 in a box and nothing else and it would be a valid vote.

.

That’s not what the poll staffer told me – he definitely said I had to number 1 to 7.

You were told wrong then.

Yep when i was waiting in line to register to vote i heard two staff members say 1 to 7 in response to questions from voters!

colourful sydney racing identity said :

Masquara said :

bd84 said :

There’s also no minimum number of boxes you need to number to have your vote counted (contrary to what the ballot paper says), you can put just 1 in a box and nothing else and it would be a valid vote.

.

That’s not what the poll staffer told me – he definitely said I had to number 1 to 7.

You were told wrong then.

For goodness sake! How can we have confusion like this about how our voting system works! Regardless of who is correct, ACT Electoral Commission clearly hasn’t done its job.

colourful sydney racing identity12:42 pm 20 Oct 12

Masquara said :

bd84 said :

There’s also no minimum number of boxes you need to number to have your vote counted (contrary to what the ballot paper says), you can put just 1 in a box and nothing else and it would be a valid vote.

.

That’s not what the poll staffer told me – he definitely said I had to number 1 to 7.

You were told wrong then.

I found it very hard to keep voting after about ten.

Stil, 10 worthwhile candidates for seven seats is no bad place to be at.

bd84 said :

There’s also no minimum number of boxes you need to number to have your vote counted (contrary to what the ballot paper says), you can put just 1 in a box and nothing else and it would be a valid vote.

.

That’s not what the poll staffer told me – he definitely said I had to number 1 to 7.

Would this be Tom Swann – ACT Geens’ policy adviser and serial pest at university????

colourful sydney racing identity12:00 pm 20 Oct 12

dixyland said :

This is the first election I haven’t numbered the majority of candidates. I usually only leave a few of the people I truly detest off, but I took 5 minutes to figure out who I would number 2-5. I guess this is what happens when the major parties don’t have policies and the major-minor party have turned into nut-cases.

geni_lou – You are wrong. In Brindabella and Ginninderra you have to vote to a minimum of 5 and Molonglo a minimum of 7 for your vote to count. Otherwise it’s an invalid vote.

incorrect. it is a valid vote even if you only vote for 1 candidate (as long as you don’t put a tick or a cross)

Particularly miserable assortment in Ginninderra 🙁
After numbering to 2 I could find no other desirable candidate. Couldn’t even bring myself to vote along my usually-preferred party lines. Proud of myself for resisting the temptation to put 26 “28”s.

(and, yes, pirate_taco was one of the two)

This is the first election I haven’t numbered the majority of candidates. I usually only leave a few of the people I truly detest off, but I took 5 minutes to figure out who I would number 2-5. I guess this is what happens when the major parties don’t have policies and the major-minor party have turned into nut-cases.

geni_lou – You are wrong. In Brindabella and Ginninderra you have to vote to a minimum of 5 and Molonglo a minimum of 7 for your vote to count. Otherwise it’s an invalid vote.

Putting faces & names out there at the last minute on posters hasn’t been the best of strategies. Liberals should have learnt by now: because they aren’t in government, they’re at a huge disadvantage, as people vote for familiar names and faces. The folks in government have their messages out there all the time, not surprisingly, through media attention.

Zed and his crew should have been out there in campaign mode for ALL of the last four years, getting those identities branded onto the citizenry’s brains.

I noticed when I voted, not surprisingly, that I found myself numbering the names and faces I knew, and stopped numbering when I ran out.

Good tip Tom – I will number everyone except for a certain Brindabella MLA who will get a big fat blank from me. She doesn’t even deserve a number.

Nightshade said :

pirate_taco said :

Not voting for all the preferences won’t help nor hinder parties you don’t agree with from getting in. If you really don’t want Greens to win a seat, put them last to help another candidate get to the quota. Your preferences also could matter in the future if any seats are vacated and there is a countback to elect a new MLA.

I don’t understand. How can it make a difference to someone you did preference whether you put someone else last or leave their box blank? If you number a box, your vote could end up with that person. If you don’t, it can’t.

There are five candidates to be selected in Ginninderra.
If I number every box and if I put the ones I least want last, my vote can never count to them because either they will already be elected through other people’s preferences, or my preferences will help elect someone else first.

If you just stop numbering, once your preferences are exhausted, you are giving up any say in who gets elected and letting everyone else decide for you.

If you follow Zed’s advice and only vote Liberal and do not preference anyone else, the minor Liberal candidates will get excluded and the excess quota from the elected candidates will not flow on to help the party/candidates who you think are least worst in the final hinge seat.

Glen Takkenberg
Pirate Party ACT for Ginninderra

If the box is left blank the candidate can not be elected by your vote, not now and not ever in a count-back caused by a casual vacancy. It is a very powerful tool that voters can use to excludes specific candidates and parties.

pirate_taco said :

Not voting for all the preferences won’t help nor hinder parties you don’t agree with from getting in. If you really don’t want Greens to win a seat, put them last to help another candidate get to the quota. Your preferences also could matter in the future if any seats are vacated and there is a countback to elect a new MLA.

I don’t understand. How can it make a difference to someone you did preference whether you put someone else last or leave their box blank? If you number a box, your vote could end up with that person. If you don’t, it can’t.

justin heywood9:25 pm 19 Oct 12

PoQ said :

As Grahame Richardson said, you may not like any of the candidates, but you can always enjoy putting somebody last.

Spoiled for Choice!

My number one tick will be a faintly marked, tentative affair, but I’ve put a lot of thought into who I’ll put last – from a particularly strong field this year.

You don’t have to number any more than you want. If you don’t want to preference any more than 1-4 your vote still counts. Voters are encouraged to go to 5 or 7, but your vote counts regardless of how many boxes you numbe, as long as you number one.

As Grahame Richardson said, you may not like any of the candidates, but you can always enjoy putting somebody last.

bd84 said :

you could make a paper aeroplane out of it if you wanted to.

I fixed that for you.

You’re welcome.

I’ll be numbering mine fully, and making my vote go as far as it can.

Not voting for all the preferences won’t help nor hinder parties you don’t agree with from getting in.
If you really don’t want Greens to win a seat, put them last to help another candidate get to the quota.
Your preferences also could matter in the future if any seats are vacated and there is a countback to elect a new MLA.

If you want to protest the way a party is acting, but still want to see them elected, vote for a minor party or independent first, then preference your preferred party.
Can’t bring yourself to do that? Vote for your preferred party, but vote for a non sitting MLA first.

Our electoral system allows us so much power. We could dump all sitting MLAs yet still have the same number of seats elected per party if we collectively wanted to.

Shake things up.

Glen Takkenberg
Pirate Party ACT for Ginninderra

bd84 said :

Minimising the number of boxes you number help keep pesky usless parties like the Greens out of the assembly.

Explain? Its not like they leave the vacancy unfilled!

There’s no requirement to number any of the boxes, you could make a paper airplane out of it if you wanted to.

There’s also no minimum number of boxes you need to number to have your vote counted (contrary to what the ballot paper says), you can put just 1 in a box and nothing else and it would be a valid vote.

Minimising the number of boxes you number help keep pesky usless parties like the Greens out of the assembly.

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