Compulsory preferential voting

[Caesar]

No, in federal elections this would be informal, as your intentions are not clear as to who is 4th and 5th preference.

If, however, you only numbered 1 to 4 and left ONE candidate blank, then I am 98% sure this is still formal. It is assumed the blank one is your 5th preference.

Having just done this election's AEC training, this is correct.

You have to be able to clearly determine a full set of preferences for all candidates on the ballot paper. Anything else and the vote is informal.

 

[tandino]

What about roman numerals?

 

[Caesar]

What about roman numerals?

They're fine. As are A, B, C, D, etc.

As long as the voter's intentions are clear, and a full set of preferences can be derived, then the ballot paper is formal.

 

[Power Raid]

I've had a gut full of this. Why should I be forced to cast a vote for someone I know nothing about or disagree with intensely? Having been forced to cast a vote seventy fkng four times in yesterday's SA Legislative Council, probably 60 more votes than I felt comfortable giving, I wondered to what degree this benefits democracy above deceit of the electorate. Surely, in a true democracy, the voters have a right to vote only for the candidate(s) they have an affinity to? Last Federal Senate election made a mockery of this with a voting slip the size of Rupert Murdock's pay cheque. Being forced to vote for the bustards is only encouraging more bustards.

spot on

 

[Relativity]

I'll try and see if I can confirm this or not, but I was lead to believe that if there were 5 candidates and you numbered both the ALP and Liberal 4th in the preferences then your preferences would only go to the numbers 1, 2 & 3, but not count for the fourth. I'm not sure on this but will try and found out unless someone else knows for sure.

About 5 or 6 Federal elections ago this was the case. You could bypass the preferences by posting a 1 2 2 2 2 vote. At the time a character, whose name eludes me, ran a campaign out of his own pocket under the catchcry of "1 2 3 3 Tweedle dumb and Tweedle dee" which publicised the means of circumventing preferencial voting. Unfortunately for him the Electoral Commission was able to successfully prosicute him and shut him up using some obscure law at the time which outlawed the loop hole from being publicised. The loop hole was closed soon after.

 

[Slax]

About 5 or 6 Federal elections ago this was the case. You could bypass the preferences by posting a 1 2 2 2 2 vote. At the time a character, whose name eludes me, ran a campaign out of his own pocket under the catchcry of "1 2 3 3 Tweedle dumb and Tweedle dee" which publicised the means of circumventing preferencial voting. Unfortunately for him the Electoral Commission was able to successfully prosicute him and shut him up using some obscure law at the time which outlawed the loop hole from being publicised. The loop hole was closed soon after.

Thanks Relativity, knew that there was a loopwhole previously but wasn't sure if it was closed or not.

 

[Norwegian Blue]

About 5 or 6 Federal elections ago this was the case. You could bypass the preferences by posting a 1 2 2 2 2 vote. At the time a character, whose name eludes me, ran a campaign out of his own pocket under the catchcry of "1 2 3 3 Tweedle dumb and Tweedle dee" which publicised the means of circumventing preferencial voting. Unfortunately for him the Electoral Commission was able to successfully prosicute him and shut him up using some obscure law at the time which outlawed the loop hole from being publicised. The loop hole was closed soon after.

Albert Langer during the 1996 election. Poor bugger went to jail for it.

 

[Relativity]

Albert Langer during the 1996 election. Poor bugger went to jail for it.

Cheers. What a wonderful democracy we live in that a person can be jailed for publicising voting information.

 

[Freo Big Fella]

My favourite ballot story (no idea if it's true) is the smiley face vote.

Story goes that it's a WA marginal liberal seat (back when such things existed) - a ballot turns up marked like this.

Candidate One -
Candidate Two -
Candidate Three -
Candidate Four - :|
Candidate Five -

Labor scrutineers successfully argued the smileys indicated a distinct preference from happiest to angriest and it apparently got through.

 

[Caesar]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langer_vote

 

[swansfan51]

Can someone explain to me why it is illegal to encourage donkey or informal voting? Remember that every vote a major political party receives gives them Government funding. Some people may wish to vote informally to avoid these parties receiving funding. Why is this not a legitimate cause?

 

[Caesar]

Can someone explain to me why it is illegal to encourage donkey or informal voting?

It's not. The section of the Act that made it illegal was repealed in the late '90s.

The media that were talking about Mark Latham being charged for encouraging informal votes last election had done sloppy research.

 

[swansfan51]

It's not. The section of the Act that made it illegal was repealed in the late '90s.

The media that were talking about Mark Latham being charged for encouraging informal votes last election had done sloppy research.

Ah, thanks for the insight. You're right, that was the source I relied on. I would strongly oppose that ban if true for the reason I outlined.