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May. 10th, 2019 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pedantherThe upcoming federal election means it's time again to start gathering tools for tackling the senate ballot.
Australian senate ballot papers are notoriously long and complicated; this year, the ballot paper for Western Australian senatorial candidates offers 67 candidates from 23-and-a-bit parties, which is fairly restrained. It's not quite as bad as it used be -- time was, the only responsible way to fill out the ballot was by individually numbering every single box, but now the rule is that your vote still counts if you number at least 12, with everybody you choose not to number getting none of your vote. (Which means that this year you can potentially rank up to 55 candidates dead last if you want, which it is not unlikely that you might.)
Cluey Voter offers an online tool to help you figure out which numbers go where, and print out your own personal how-to-vote card so you don't get confused when confronted with all those boxes on polling day.
To help you figure out which boxes you want to put which numbers in, you need to know what you think of the parties, many of whom you probably haven't heard of before. The ABC and The Guardian have polite but informative guides to the minor parties, while Donkey Votie and this bloke on r/perth go for the snarky commentary. (The latter also goes above and beyond by covering the independent candidates.)
[hat-tip tordm for posting the ABC link and reminding me it was that time again]
Australian senate ballot papers are notoriously long and complicated; this year, the ballot paper for Western Australian senatorial candidates offers 67 candidates from 23-and-a-bit parties, which is fairly restrained. It's not quite as bad as it used be -- time was, the only responsible way to fill out the ballot was by individually numbering every single box, but now the rule is that your vote still counts if you number at least 12, with everybody you choose not to number getting none of your vote. (Which means that this year you can potentially rank up to 55 candidates dead last if you want, which it is not unlikely that you might.)
Cluey Voter offers an online tool to help you figure out which numbers go where, and print out your own personal how-to-vote card so you don't get confused when confronted with all those boxes on polling day.
To help you figure out which boxes you want to put which numbers in, you need to know what you think of the parties, many of whom you probably haven't heard of before. The ABC and The Guardian have polite but informative guides to the minor parties, while Donkey Votie and this bloke on r/perth go for the snarky commentary. (The latter also goes above and beyond by covering the independent candidates.)
[hat-tip to
rdm for posting the ABC link and reminding me it was that time again]
