19 October 2012

Phillip Green needs to improve the admin at ACT polling places?

| Masquara
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I voted at Pilgrim House and found the arrangements a bit slack. The polling box was soft green canvas, and when I went to “drop” mine in, it was so full, and the zip closer so soft and wide, that I could easily have reach in and fished out a handful of votes, with the exit RIGHT next to the “box”.

It was of course well within view of the people recording details and handing out the forms, but there was NO-ONE watching it! It appears that the electoral commission was attempting to save $$ by doubling up one of the tasks, so the lady ushering people in was perhaps also the security detail on the box.

It would actually have been easy to grab the whole box and run out the door with hundreds or thousands of votes, as there was no-one watching it and the people nearby were sitting behind tables.

When I told the lady at the door (when she had returned from the other side of the room) that I could easily have grabbed a handful of votes out, and she would have been none the wiser, she said, “Oh, OK, I’ll shake the box”.

It all felt a bit like a polling place in a country that wasn’t quite up to ensuring the democratic vote – rather than one of the world’s most developed and competent democracies.

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I noticed at my polling place they had no plans at all on what to do if a black hole suddenly appeared and sucked us into a parallel universe where people didnt spend their days trying to find problems that dont exist! I was appalled, appalled I say!

When oh when will this Government…etc etc etc

dtc said :

I suspect the reason why security is a bit lax is simply because nothing has ever happened to justify having tigher/better/more expensive security.

Like that’s ever been a reason not to introduce more security if there was a buck to be made, eg the “security theatre” at our airports nowadays.

I suspect the reason why security is a bit lax is simply because nothing has ever happened to justify having tigher/better/more expensive security. I cannot ever recall hearing of someone ‘stealing’ a box full of votes. I guess it could happen; but so could many things. However, there is security that you do not know about and isnt totally visible.

As mentioned, requiring ID is only going to disenfranchise people without ID (or who turn up without ID etc). Usually poorer people, hence the reason why the Republicans in the US are pushing for voter ID requirements.

Spykler said :

fabforty said :

I have always wondered why no-one ever asks for identification when you turn up to vote. Any ideas ?

I voted electronically at the Gungahlin library polling place and was asked for my ID before I got issued with my bar code strip.

Clearly, you were disenfranchised then.

fabforty said :

I have always wondered why no-one ever asks for identification when you turn up to vote. Any ideas ?

I voted electronically at the Gungahlin library polling place and was asked for my ID before I got issued with my bar code strip.

poetix said :

Pork Hunt said :

Your wit and wisdom makes me green with envy…

You look quite pink in your new porktrait.

Not too subtle?

Taken from the “rear view” mirror last time I was at the hair dresser..

Give me a week or two and I’ll show you the front.

PantsMan said :

Holditz said :

Anyone take advantage of any cake stalls and/or sausage sizzles?

Went to Cube later, someone offeref

Wokie said :

Ate said :

housebound said :

Our neighbour turned up to be told he wasn’t on the electoral roll, even though it appears when he checked the AEC website. Hope this doesn’t happen too much. Disenfranchising voters is never a good thing.

Same thing happened to my flatmate, despite her receiving a letter confirming she was enrolled at our address. They didn’t turn her away.

Mr Ate and I filled out our ballot papers at Ainslie Primary at 8am, extremely quick and easy.

When I moved to Canberra I updated my electoral enrolment and recieved notification that it was updated. Down the track it was voting time and turned up to vote and was told “Sorry your not on the roll” showed them my enrolment details. A few months after the election I recieved a fine in the mail for not voting. Upon making enquiries I was told it was for not voting at my old address! I got the fine waved after being able to show I was enrolled at new address.

An absolute joke.

On another issue, the Pirate Party were told to have their registration in by midnight on a Saturday. Only problem was that the Legislation Act 2001 says that, when a deadline falls on Saturday or Sunday, it is deemed to be COB on the following Monday.

So basically, does Phillip Green have a clue what he’s doing?

In this case it likely wouldn’t have changed the outcome, as I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday when we got the feedback that 16 of our 110 members supplied could not be found on the ACT roll, and that they could not be given the opportunity to correct their enrolment to their current address in order to support our party registration because we were now past the deadline for registration, and that amending the registration would be taken to be a new application.
But you are right, and the advice we received about what the deadline was does appear to have been incorrect, though I’m sure there was a disclaimer there that it wasn’t legal advice or something to that effect.

The problem of AEC not processing updates, or enrolments disappearing is a bigger issue I think.
When I called our members who couldn’t be found on the ACT roll, I had multiple members confirm that they had changed their address with AEC, and that there must be a mistake.

We also had one member who was confirmed as enrolled in ACT in July, but had disappeared from the roll when we used them to support our “independent” nomination forms a few weeks ago.

So what is going wrong inside the AEC, where Phillip Green gets his roll from?

Glen Takkenberg
Pirate Party ACT

Pork Hunt said :

Your wit and wisdom makes me green with envy…

You look quite pink in your new porktrait. Not too subtle?

Nightshade said :

fabforty said :

I have always wondered why no-one ever asks for identification when you turn up to vote. Any ideas ?

I rather enjoy living in a society where that isn’t necessary. I’d say you don’t need to show ID because there isn’t a problem with people impersonating other people in an effort to cast extra votes.

Not sure what the figure is in Australia, but certainly in the US, where photo ID is a requirement or proposed requirements in some states, the problem is many Americans don’t have photo ID. The requirement for ID would attract arguments, and may very well be a form of voter exclusion.

Holditz said :

Anyone take advantage of any cake stalls and/or sausage sizzles?

Went to Cube later, someone offeref

Wokie said :

Ate said :

housebound said :

Our neighbour turned up to be told he wasn’t on the electoral roll, even though it appears when he checked the AEC website. Hope this doesn’t happen too much. Disenfranchising voters is never a good thing.

Same thing happened to my flatmate, despite her receiving a letter confirming she was enrolled at our address. They didn’t turn her away.

Mr Ate and I filled out our ballot papers at Ainslie Primary at 8am, extremely quick and easy.

When I moved to Canberra I updated my electoral enrolment and recieved notification that it was updated. Down the track it was voting time and turned up to vote and was told “Sorry your not on the roll” showed them my enrolment details. A few months after the election I recieved a fine in the mail for not voting. Upon making enquiries I was told it was for not voting at my old address! I got the fine waved after being able to show I was enrolled at new address.

An absolute joke.

On another issue, the Pirate Party were told to have their registration in by midnight on a Saturday. Only problem was that the Legislation Act 2001 says that, when a deadline falls on Saturday or Sunday, it is deemed to be COB on the following Monday.

So basically, does Phillip Green have a clue what he’s doing?

54-11 said :

poetix said :

Masquara solves the mystery:

The green canvas box contained all the Green votes and Philip Green’s minions could not prevent them being stolen!

Yep, an intellectual giant alright.

Will try harder to be dull and sensible.

poetix said :

Masquara solves the mystery:

The green canvas box contained all the Green votes and Philip Green’s minions could not prevent them being stolen!

Yep, an intellectual giant alright.

poetix said :

Masquara solves the mystery:

The green canvas box contained all the Green votes and Philip Green’s minions could not prevent them being stolen!

An enjoyable fantasy anyway. There are more greens in that sentence than there will be in the Assembly.

Your wit and wisdom makes me green with envy…

Masquara solves the mystery:

The green canvas box contained all the Green votes and Philip Green’s minions could not prevent them being stolen!

An enjoyable fantasy anyway. There are more greens in that sentence than there will be in the Assembly.

Masquara said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

… till the fleet footed hooligans had reached the nearest park and spread our votes all over the playground. What would happen then? Dud election, start over?

Hence my advice to Phillip Green. In a close election like this one, if the above happened, yes, a new election would be called, at cost, annoyance and inconvenience to the electorate. You’d think the Electoral Commissioner would have done an adequate risk analysis on this, and made sure some simple, no-cost steps were taken to minimise the risk: position the ballot box where it can’t be earily grabbed and run with; brief staff on the risks; and ensure that surveilling it is a priority on the part of the staff present. A no-brainer.

If a new election would be called, what would be the point in running off with a ballot box? Perhaps the hooligans have done their own risk assessment and decided it’s not worth it.

wildturkeycanoe said :

… till the fleet footed hooligans had reached the nearest park and spread our votes all over the playground. What would happen then? Dud election, start over?

Hence my advice to Phillip Green. In a close election like this one, if the above happened, yes, a new election would be called, at cost, annoyance and inconvenience to the electorate. You’d think the Electoral Commissioner would have done an adequate risk analysis on this, and made sure some simple, no-cost steps were taken to minimise the risk: position the ballot box where it can’t be earily grabbed and run with; brief staff on the risks; and ensure that surveilling it is a priority on the part of the staff present. A no-brainer.

fabforty said :

I have always wondered why no-one ever asks for identification when you turn up to vote. Any ideas ?

I rather enjoy living in a society where that isn’t necessary. I’d say you don’t need to show ID because there isn’t a problem with people impersonating other people in an effort to cast extra votes.

fabforty said :

I have always wondered why no-one ever asks for identification when you turn up to vote. Any ideas ?

Because you still have a right (and obligation) to vote even if you don’t have any identification.

I have always wondered why no-one ever asks for identification when you turn up to vote. Any ideas ?

Ate said :

housebound said :

Our neighbour turned up to be told he wasn’t on the electoral roll, even though it appears when he checked the AEC website. Hope this doesn’t happen too much. Disenfranchising voters is never a good thing.

Same thing happened to my flatmate, despite her receiving a letter confirming she was enrolled at our address. They didn’t turn her away.

Mr Ate and I filled out our ballot papers at Ainslie Primary at 8am, extremely quick and easy.

When I moved to Canberra I updated my electoral enrolment and recieved notification that it was updated. Down the track it was voting time and turned up to vote and was told “Sorry your not on the roll” showed them my enrolment details. A few months after the election I recieved a fine in the mail for not voting. Upon making enquiries I was told it was for not voting at my old address! I got the fine waved after being able to show I was enrolled at new address.

Campbell fete was pretty good. but the queue to vote was pretty long all morning – better by the afternoon, but all the pencils were blunt as anything by then.

housebound said :

Our neighbour turned up to be told he wasn’t on the electoral roll, even though it appears when he checked the AEC website. Hope this doesn’t happen too much. Disenfranchising voters is never a good thing.

Same thing happened to my flatmate, despite her receiving a letter confirming she was enrolled at our address. They didn’t turn her away.

Mr Ate and I filled out our ballot papers at Ainslie Primary at 8am, extremely quick and easy.

SnapperJack said :

Simon Corbell has posted on Facebook pictures of him voting at Weetangera. Actual pics of him getting his name crossed off and putting his ballot paper in the box. I thought cameras were banned inside polling places. And who was taking the pics of him and did this person actually see how he filled out his ballot paper? So much for the secret ballot.

I’m pretty sure I know who Simon Corbell voted for anyway, don’t you?

Anyone take advantage of any cake stalls and/or sausage sizzles?

wildturkeycanoe11:54 pm 20 Oct 12

Only 3 people in the room at our polling place, sitting back, tired from the activity. Wouldn’t take a lot for someone to grab the cardboard “bin” the ballots go into and run for their lives. The BBQ operators outside wouldn’t know what was going on till the fleet footed hooligans had reached the nearest park and spread our votes all over the playground. What would happen then? Dud election, start over?

Nightshade said :

housebound said :

Our neighbour turned up to be told he wasn’t on the electoral roll, even though it appears when he checked the AEC website. Hope this doesn’t happen too much. Disenfranchising voters is never a good thing.

He should have been given a declaration vote – I trust he wasn’t turned away.

Nope. Turned away.

housebound said :

Our neighbour turned up to be told he wasn’t on the electoral roll, even though it appears when he checked the AEC website. Hope this doesn’t happen too much. Disenfranchising voters is never a good thing.

He should have been given a declaration vote – I trust he wasn’t turned away.

Our neighbour turned up to be told he wasn’t on the electoral roll, even though it appears when he checked the AEC website. Hope this doesn’t happen too much. Disenfranchising voters is never a good thing.

54-11 said :

Well, my polling place was well staffed, no queues to speak of, and the whole process took just a few minutes.

Kudos to AEC from me.

I thought the same, Very efficient – quick – easy – and painless. Well done to the casual staff and AEC.

Simon Corbell has posted on Facebook pictures of him voting at Weetangera. Actual pics of him getting his name crossed off and putting his ballot paper in the box. I thought cameras were banned inside polling places. And who was taking the pics of him and did this person actually see how he filled out his ballot paper? So much for the secret ballot.

54-11 said :

Well, my polling place was well staffed, no queues to speak of, and the whole process took just a few minutes.

Kudos to AEC from me.

Same here, with the slight annoyance of the casual Elections ACT staffer talking super quietly so you couldn’t here a damn word. Other than that, smoothest voting I’ve ever done.

Masquara said
“How is electoral integrity a “first world problem”? A rigorous system is vital to any ballot. Any voter could have stuffed ten illegal votes into that ballot box and they would have been counted.”
They only give you ONE (Robson rotated) voting form and I doubt the election will be decided by 10 votes, but I must admit I had to run the gauntlet of a much more sophisticated ID security system just to get into the Mawson Club for a Fat Yak or two than I did at the pre-poll centre.

Well, my polling place was well staffed, no queues to speak of, and the whole process took just a few minutes.

Kudos to AEC from me.

dixyland said :

You have to love your first world problems

How is electoral integrity a “first world problem”? A rigorous system is vital to any ballot. Any voter could have stuffed ten illegal votes into that ballot box and they would have been counted.

You have to love your first world problems

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