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Sep. 4th, 2013 11:04 pmBetter late than never: I've been collecting useful links for voters in the upcoming Australian federal election, to be held this Saturday.
Since I procrastinated so long, leece already posted one, but I think I've got some links she didn't (and of course our readership isn't co-extensive, so some of you won't have seen hers).
In You Can't "Waste Your Vote"!, Dennis the Election Koala helpfully explains Australia's preferential voting system, and why Australian voters can and should vote 1 for the candidate they'd prefer to win even if they know that candidate has no chance of actually getting in. (hat-tip: this one's been all over my friendslist, but I first saw it via drhoz)
Vote Compass lets you compare your positions with those of the three major players (Labor, the Liberal-National Coalition, and the Greens) both in aggregate and on specific issues.
This policy scorecard from GetUp includes the three majors and five smaller parties. (hat-tip: via leece)
Then we get to Australia's infamously large and complicated Senate ballots.
Below the Line explains why you should consider tackling the difficult process of filling out a complete Senate ballot instead of taking the easier "above the line" option - and, crucially, provides a tool that makes it much less daunting to contemplate. With the Ballot Editor, you can select your electorate, rearrange the candidates in whatever order you like with an easy drag-and-drop interface, taking as long as you need, and then print out a reminder card showing how to fill out the ballot form to express that preferred order.
But how do you decide who you prefer, when there are so many minor parties who only appear on the Senate ballots?
In addition to the Vote Compass and GetUp links above, Who the hell are all these minor parties? is a brief irreverent rundown of the many minor parties, some of which are doing that thing where they seem appealing but there's something unpleasant not very deep under the surface. The Citizens Electoral Council ("Possibly fascists, definitely nuts"), who in previous years have had a lock on last position in my preferences, may have been beaten this year by the Rise Up Australia Party (who describe themselves as "for people from all ethnic backgrounds who call Australia home", but on closer investigation take it as an article of faith that people from some backgrounds are inherently incapable of becoming True Australians and can therefore be attacked with a clear conscience). (hat-tip: via sqbr; also I should note that the original is by baglieg, but the link above goes to a reblog with some useful additional commentary attached)
An experiment in visualising preferences crunches the numbers from the Senate preference tickets submitted by the various parties, and shows a set of graphs grouping together parties whose preference choices indicate they see each other as having common cause. If you're not sure what to make of a particular party, seeing who its neighbours are may help you decide.
Since I procrastinated so long, leece already posted one, but I think I've got some links she didn't (and of course our readership isn't co-extensive, so some of you won't have seen hers).
In You Can't "Waste Your Vote"!, Dennis the Election Koala helpfully explains Australia's preferential voting system, and why Australian voters can and should vote 1 for the candidate they'd prefer to win even if they know that candidate has no chance of actually getting in. (hat-tip: this one's been all over my friendslist, but I first saw it via drhoz)
Vote Compass lets you compare your positions with those of the three major players (Labor, the Liberal-National Coalition, and the Greens) both in aggregate and on specific issues.
This policy scorecard from GetUp includes the three majors and five smaller parties. (hat-tip: via leece)
Then we get to Australia's infamously large and complicated Senate ballots.
Below the Line explains why you should consider tackling the difficult process of filling out a complete Senate ballot instead of taking the easier "above the line" option - and, crucially, provides a tool that makes it much less daunting to contemplate. With the Ballot Editor, you can select your electorate, rearrange the candidates in whatever order you like with an easy drag-and-drop interface, taking as long as you need, and then print out a reminder card showing how to fill out the ballot form to express that preferred order.
But how do you decide who you prefer, when there are so many minor parties who only appear on the Senate ballots?
In addition to the Vote Compass and GetUp links above, Who the hell are all these minor parties? is a brief irreverent rundown of the many minor parties, some of which are doing that thing where they seem appealing but there's something unpleasant not very deep under the surface. The Citizens Electoral Council ("Possibly fascists, definitely nuts"), who in previous years have had a lock on last position in my preferences, may have been beaten this year by the Rise Up Australia Party (who describe themselves as "for people from all ethnic backgrounds who call Australia home", but on closer investigation take it as an article of faith that people from some backgrounds are inherently incapable of becoming True Australians and can therefore be attacked with a clear conscience). (hat-tip: via sqbr; also I should note that the original is by baglieg, but the link above goes to a reblog with some useful additional commentary attached)
An experiment in visualising preferences crunches the numbers from the Senate preference tickets submitted by the various parties, and shows a set of graphs grouping together parties whose preference choices indicate they see each other as having common cause. If you're not sure what to make of a particular party, seeing who its neighbours are may help you decide.
