Comments on: Beginners’ guide to the NSW upper house

By: Disasterboy

Disasterboy — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:12:56 +0000

Note Anthony Greens NSW 2003 LC preference survey…

http://www.abc.net.au/elections/nsw/2007/guide/lc_2003.htm

By: Antony Green

Antony Green — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 11:23:39 +0000

It did happen, but it was a very different form of ballot paper.

By: Stephen L

Stephen L — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 09:50:05 +0000

Re Ben’s question about BTLs overturning a ticket order, didn’t this happen in the constitutional convention election? I seem to recall that Hazel Hawke got up ahead of the person above her on the ARM ticket because of personal votes – anyone confirm/correct?

By: Sacha

Sacha — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 12:45:19 +0000

Anthony, it’s a farce!

By: Ben Raue

Ben Raue — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 12:16:37 +0000

I’m sure it’s not so much a farce as convenient for the big parties. It lets them have flexibility in doing whatever the hell they want without accountability until it’s too late. By the time a story breaks about a party doing something dodgy with their HTVs, voting would have already been going for hours, and no story could begin to have an impact before polls close.

Besides, Labor and the Libs have never shied away from doing something to keep away the public spotlight from their actions.

By: Antony Green

Antony Green — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 10:43:55 +0000

The sillyness of forcing how-to-votes to be registered but then keeping them secret is revealed when you check the list of candidates on the NSW EC website. Every candidate was forced to sign a child related conduct declaration, stating whether thay had ever been convicted of any form of child abuse or been charged with any under age sex offences. The law has required every one of these four page forms for more than 800 candidates to be scanned and put up on the NSW EC website. But its too difficult to allow public access to registered how-to-vote material. Is this a farce or am I being too kind?

By: Ben Raue

Ben Raue — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 10:33:18 +0000

While I’m sure you won’t believe me, but I’m pretty sure the Greens HTVs which are on our website are the same we’ll be using on election day. You can find them at: http://www.nsw.greens.org.au/materials/leaflets/A4%20Absentee%20Booklet.pdf

This is a PDF file. This link appears near the top of our election website at http://www.nsw.greens.org.au

By: Antony Green

Antony Green — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 10:18:20 +0000

By the way, for those who’ve asked ( I think it was here) what preference deals had been done, the answer is who knows. All how-to-vote material has beem registered, but no one is allowed to look at it. If you are on the electoral roll for a NSW district, you will be allowed to visit your local Returning Officer on Saturday and examine registered material. But you cannot do it beforehand and you cannot look at it unless registered for that district.

Parties are currently distributing pre-poll how-to-vote cards, but this does not mean the same preferences will be recommended on how-to-votes on Saturday.

As for lower house preferences, you are only allowed to examine how-to-votes for your own district. The law prevents you from looking at how-to-votes in the other 92 districts. And access is only allowed on Saturday during the hours of polling.

By: Sacha

Sacha — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 12:32:14 +0000

Thanks for that, Anthony. As a then-Qld, it wasn’t clear to me how the change happened.

By: Chris Curtis

Chris Curtis — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 11:51:56 +0000

Ben,

You are probably right in reality, but even though I am a cynic I like to leave a little room for idealism – for the possibility that one day sufficient individuals will make their own voting choices. I would say more but if I try to post anything of length, it just disappears into the ether of cyberspace.