There was an election today!
I'm going to take a short break from the theme of this blog to reduce some confusion about the Australian Senate voting that has happened today. Basically, there was a lot of misinformation about what a person is required to do, so I'm hopefully going to help clarify it here.
General Rule for the HUGE Senate Sheet
AT LEAST 6 above the line
- or -
AT LEAST 12 below the line
That's not what I was told!
This is what the ballot paper had written on it. This is NOT what many people were told. There are reports of people being told "6 above or 12 below the line". I was personally told this. Luckily I knew this was incorrect, but many people are not aware of this.
Can I number LESS than 6 above/12 below?
Yes.
Then why are people talking about 6 above or 12 below?
This is where it gets a bit tricky and it's based on the new voting changes that were recently passed (link to PDF).
Basically, page 8 of the document details that:
1. If there is a "1" or a check mark against a candidate, that is STILL COUNTED.
2. If there are less than 6 consecutive numbers, they are STILL COUNTED.BUT, the document itself says that the ballot papers should not mention these provisions (see quoted text below), I guess for consistency, the AEC's has followed this in their other printed information and website.
Basically, page 8 of the document details that:
1. If there is a "1" or a check mark against a candidate, that is STILL COUNTED.
2. If there are less than 6 consecutive numbers, they are STILL COUNTED.BUT, the document itself says that the ballot papers should not mention these provisions (see quoted text below), I guess for consistency, the AEC's has followed this in their other printed information and website.
"Such votes should not be ruled informal; they express a clear voter choice. But the Senate ballot paper instructions will adopt the principal requirement in amended section 239, designed to give a reasonable life to an individual’s vote on preference distribution, to number at least six squares."This basically means they will tell people they need at least 6 above or 12 below, otherwise there's a chance a person's preferences may be used-up way too early in the process, and this effectively silences that person's opinion on other candidates. I assume that this is meant to make up to the part of the process where parties previously specified their preference flow if a person voted "1" for them. In that case, a person had theoretically indicated their preferences (as the parties did declare them) just by voting 1 for a party - although most people never really looked at their selected party preferences which is why the law changed in the first page. More info on ABC Fact Check website