THE DAY OF THE VOTE

So the day has come to vote and majority of us attend a polling place where you are handed your mighty pencil and given your ballot papers.  Your hands are very likely to be full of 'how to vote' papers thrust at you while you are outside.  These papers ask you to fill in your ballot form in a particular way to suit their agenda. There could be up to 70 candidate's named on the ballot and understandably, there will be many you have never heard of!  You are expected to have a preference for them all - even those you oppose.  That’s when the ticks and crosses come out, a high percentage just tick one box above the line.  It would just take too much time for most of us to be bothered filling in all 70 boxes in the order that we would prefer. 

The outcome unfortunately will be the same, weather through apathy, the old football team mentality ingrained in our voters or the simple fact it is to hard to make some sort of decision between the many unknown candidates most voters will simply mark 1 box above the line, some 90% or more leaving the major players to decide your preferences for you through deceitful secret back room deals, so who does your vote end up counting for?

I ask why couldn’t we have an advanced copy of the ballot paper so we can have time to make the most informed decision we can, some details of the candidates? Our council elections can do it, why are they afforded such luxury or is their time yet to come?  We may then be able to arrive on voting day and be prepared to fill in the ballot paper, knowing who and what we are voting for.

The electoral system has a body called the JSCEM - the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters.  It is their place to be advised of the wishes of the voters in the electorate with regard to the voting process.  The Committee is supposed to act as an independent authority.  Unfortunately the sitting members are chosen from the major parties.  However, their recent advice to those that write the laws has mimicked what I have been saying “that many voters object to electing those they conscientiously reject” and further "that the majority felt full preferential voting was undemocratic”.  Despite these findings the government has chosen not to change the system which most believe is unfair and biased.