ShareOur Mission is to empower your vote, to overcome deficiencies in the electoral process, expose dodgy practices, and level the playing field for those community based people who dare step up as candidates to represent YOU in parliament.
THIS PAGE HAS VOTING INFO AND THE BASICS OF ELECTORAL LAWS see www.markmaldridge.com 4 more
"It must be those whom cast the vote that decide, not those whom count the vote!"
READ ON ABOUT HOW AND WHERE TO VOTE! THERE IS A QUICK GUIDE TO VOTING ON THE CONTACT US PAGE
DEMOCRACY is all about the “Free will of an informed electorate” something that can only be achieved by the hard work of the electorate, as our electoral system is biased by way of the self-interest of those who write the electoral laws.
To have what little say you have in the way our states and country is run, you must cast the most informed vote you can, rather than be taken by the media’s support of the 2 party electoral system, that can only be done by choosing the best candidates that mirror your ideals for our future and that of our children’s.
"Choose the best person for the job, not the leader chosen by the political parties, as it is your local representative that will be there to fight for you, not a leader that can be sacked by his/her party"
ENROLLMENT; It is important you are not only enrolled to vote, but that your enrollment is current, in each state many people arrive to vote only to find their names missing of the electoral roll, in the 2010 SA State election over 77,000 names went missing from the roll prior to the election, (please click for further info).
ATTENDANCE; Attendance in time to vote is very important, and that you attend the right polling booth for your area, and attend as early as possible, during the 2010 election many booths did not allow absentee voting, even thought the law says you have a right to such, also in many recent elections including SA, polling booths ran out of ballot papers, as much as this is a disgrace to democracy, early arrival ensures you can exercise your right to vote.
CASTING A FORMAL VOTE; there are many rules to voting, so best beware, the electoral commission have all the information (SA electoral commission link) In SA we have full preferential voting, which in short means, we must have a preference for even those we do not know or in-fact oppose, the result of the structural biases of having the 2 major parties writing the electoral laws, which also includes candidates names being left of the ballot papers, an unfair counting system and other dodgy practices.
POSTAL VOTING; many people will received postal ballot applications, ensure that if you choose to cast a postal vote, your application goes to the Electoral Commission, most do not, in fact both the major parties include with the application, a return envelope that has their own address (covered in detail), other issues arise where many thousands of postal votes go missing (over 16,500 in the SA 2010 election went missing) and many thousands are deemed to be dodgy (6500) more than enough to change an election result.
DODGY PRACTICES; to be covered in detail later on this site, some issues included (in brief), the usual false promise, missing information in the polling booths, dodgy how to vote information including people dressing up as other parties, dodgy letter box information being received (Labor in SA registered the name of the opposition as a pre paid postal address, so the information you thought you send the Liberal leader, in fact went to the Labor party) are only a few disgraceful practices making an informed and free vote the hard task it should not be. Please watch the expose on Today Tonight before you vote in 2014 and then go to my notes on the findings, seems the results of a general election can not be challenged regardless of the conduct, so lets ensure we the people do our own policing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faSb3InLyCY YOUR RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS; covered in more detail on this site. In brief, it is the Electoral Commissioners job to ensure you know your rights and obligations under the electoral Act, the fact that this does not and most probably will not occur, I will ensure these details are available in detail on (Rights and Obligations). Those rights include the right to receive a replacement ballot paper if you make a mistake, an absentee vote if your name can not be found on the electoral roll, guaranteed availability to enter the polling booth, and many more safeguards, which I regret to say are ignored in the most, so consider reading further.
MARKING YOUR BALLOT PAPER; you will be given a ballot paper for both the upper and lower houses of which ever parliament you are voting in, and pencils are on hand, I say take a pen, for obvious reasons, as it is the case polling booth staff in some elections carry rubbers, if you make a mistake, you can cross it out and start again, something for which I personally disagree, so if you are not happy with your first try, you have the right to demand another ballot paper, and do not take no for an answer, thousands did :(
PREFERENCING; You are forced to preference every candidate, a very hard task as access to who they all are is a lot of work, as the electoral commission will not assist you, and some of the voting squares will be left blank, these squares are for candidates, you are meant to be able to request information on the day, but denial is usual, if you take the easy way out, and mark only one box, be aware that person or party, will allot your preferences for you, again you can request information as to where their preferences will take your vote, but again reports of that information missing is a regular one.
The Electoral commission in some cases can GUESS YOUR INTENTION IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE, so ensure you do not.
THE
MEDIA’S ROLL IN ELECTIONS; the media in general cover the 2 major parties with the usual side serve of greens, they do not tend to cover the many other candidates from either the minor parties or the Independents, making an informed choice when voting somewhat impossible, unless you take the patriotic stance of searching the internet, which is not available to all voters, later on this site we will look at the electoral change we so desperately need to ensure election results are by way of the “Free will of an informed electorate” making matters worse is some names on the ballot paper are either members of the major parties or interstate people with no idea of our needs! The media will spend most of any election campaign with articles on the leaders, leaders are chosen by the party not the people, so best we choose the best candidate to make up any party, and the old ideal “Independents are a wasted vote” is sold by the major parties can you guess why?
MOBILE POLLING, THE ELEDERLY AND THE SICK; with many reports of people missing out on their votes, mobile polling excluding many hospitals and nursing homes and undue influence, it is in the best interest of all patriotic Aussies to ensure their parents and family do not miss out on their precious vote, by helping them cast both an informed and educated vote, please consider postal voting for those who are unable to attend on their own.
PARTY POLITICS V INDEPENDENTS; Political representation is about the candidate rather than the party, so look at the candidates when forming a decision, many party politicians pledge allegiance to their parties, rather then the electorate they should be representing, the choice is totally yours, just do the best you can, very few of us elected the leaders of political parties, in fact that is up to the party, make sure you have elected the best candidates.
- OVER VIEW ON HOW TO VOTE
- Ensure you are enrolled as soon as the election is called, by way of phoning the State Electoral Commission, also ensure your children and parents are also
- As you must preference those you do not know and those you oppose, spend as much time as possible looking into the many candidates, number from 1 those you actually prefer, number backwards from the last those you oppose, and in most cases guess those in-between, always double check you have numbered every square.
- The blank boxes above the line are the independents, their names will be directly below the blank square, but you can still mark the blank square.
- If you make a mistake, you have the right to a replacement ballot paper, so know your rights.
- If possible arrange to help those of your family in need, those in Hospital and nursing homes, take any info on the candidate you can find, to ensure they have some hope of casting an informed vote.
- If you arrive to vote and your name is missing from the electoral roll, you have the right to cast an absentee vote, so demand it.
- Every one has the right to a vote, regardless of how they are dressed.
- If you will be away or workings etc, and need a postal vote, apply as soon as possible directly to the electoral commission, do not send your application in a reply paid envelope to a party office.
- If you experience any problems at the polling booth demand to speak with the booth manager.
- Complaints must be made to the electoral commissioner as soon as possible to bring accountability to any dodgy people or actions.
Do your own research, the media are consumed with the 2 party leaders, and will not recognise minor party candidates and Independents, check with the electoral commission to get the candidate details and google search if you wish to cast an informed vote.
Mark M Aldridge Independent for Ramsay by election 2010 supports this page
For comment or further information contact MARK M ALDRIDGE on 08 82847482 P O Box 1073 Virginia SA 5120 or email aldridgemark@bigpond.com
