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I'm trying to vote properly this year
And quickly finding out why most people DON'T vote properly.
For one, the ballot forms are confusing. I still don't exactly get how or why this trickle down/preferences voting thing works. What I have discovered is that if you vote "below the line" you'll be voting for who you want, not for whoever's in power that gets the preference of whoever you voted for... or something.
So I found a site where you can put everyone below the line in order of preference then get a handy print out form so you know which numbers to put where.
I'm currently trying to find that page, because the AEC page is gobbledegook to me. I want a list of all the people I can vote for (which varies depending on where in Australia you are), and I want to be able to SEE ALL THEIR POLICIES! Seems I'm going to have to Google each one. Try and remember what they all stand for and then figure out my order of preference from there.
It's not at all simple and it's no wonder most people don't do it.
Labor and Liberal do loads of advertising and get loads of media time so everyone knows their polices, and unfortunately tends to vote for either. The Greens get a bit of publicity and this year the Sex Party is getting some coverage too. Nutters like One Nation and Family First have been covered in the past so people know the basics of their policies.
But there are a stack more options that most people know NOTHING about. To me this seems like a serious flaw in the electoral process. There should be a website and/or a pamphlet that gets sent out, that summarises the policies of EVERYONE so EVERYONE can make a proper, informed decision on who they vote on.
But no, that's now how it works, so Labor or Liberal will get in and both are shit.
It's really no wonder I'm an anarchist.
For one, the ballot forms are confusing. I still don't exactly get how or why this trickle down/preferences voting thing works. What I have discovered is that if you vote "below the line" you'll be voting for who you want, not for whoever's in power that gets the preference of whoever you voted for... or something.
So I found a site where you can put everyone below the line in order of preference then get a handy print out form so you know which numbers to put where.
I'm currently trying to find that page, because the AEC page is gobbledegook to me. I want a list of all the people I can vote for (which varies depending on where in Australia you are), and I want to be able to SEE ALL THEIR POLICIES! Seems I'm going to have to Google each one. Try and remember what they all stand for and then figure out my order of preference from there.
It's not at all simple and it's no wonder most people don't do it.
Labor and Liberal do loads of advertising and get loads of media time so everyone knows their polices, and unfortunately tends to vote for either. The Greens get a bit of publicity and this year the Sex Party is getting some coverage too. Nutters like One Nation and Family First have been covered in the past so people know the basics of their policies.
But there are a stack more options that most people know NOTHING about. To me this seems like a serious flaw in the electoral process. There should be a website and/or a pamphlet that gets sent out, that summarises the policies of EVERYONE so EVERYONE can make a proper, informed decision on who they vote on.
But no, that's now how it works, so Labor or Liberal will get in and both are shit.
It's really no wonder I'm an anarchist.