Democracy in action

[heliopausa]

Phew!  What a few hours that was! Today I went voting. 

The Australian electoral system, which I love and staunchly believe is one of the best in the world, demands a lot of the voter, and I spent quite a while this morning going through the dozens of candidates for the Senate in my state. 
The House of Reps is easier, just a handful to sort through, and not too tactical a vote needed, but for the Senate I printed out the lot, and checked them all out - parties and policies and past associations - and then sorted them into three lots:
 - those who were never, ever going to get any kind of vote from me, and
- those whom I really wanted to get in, who were getting a high-ranking preference vote that will actual count, and
- those who were pretty much getting a preference just to make up the numbers. 
(For the Senate, those who vote "below the line", that is to say deciding not to let a party preference deal decide how the vote falls, must vote for at least twelve candidates - hence I needed to vote for some to make up the numbers, even if I didn't think they'd be brilliant members of the Senate.) 

And then I took myself and my carefully annotated form guide to the Embassy, and voted.  Job done!  :)

***
This person's not in my electorate, and as an Independent his chance of getting in is vanishingly small, but I was very taken indeed by his campaign video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO-TleNQCfM  (just under a minute, and worth a look, if you enjoy politics!)

Comments

[edenfalling]

Congrats on civic responsibility!

[heliopausa]

Thanks! :)

[judo100]

That does sound like a lot of work. Good for you, getting it done!

I often vote by party, which saves a lot of time and individual scrutiny, unless there is an individual in the "wrong" party that I'm really interested in.

[heliopausa]

Thanks. :)

Party is important for me, too, but in our system the minor parties can have very significant influence - and there are a lot of them, often quite new-minted and sometimes with deliberately misleading names.

[tielan]

Is that the guy with the interpretative dance policies? (I'm at work and probably shouldn't be looking at YT...)

Also, would you be willing to share your cliff notes on the parties?

[heliopausa]

Yep, that's him - and sure thing! :)

[heliopausa]

Notes on the first dozen parties on the NSW ticket have been sent by private message. I'll leave the next dozen for tomorrow, because otherwise it will feel like a huge load of info coming pelting at you all at once. :)

[sovay]

And then I took myself and my carefully annotated form guide to the Embassy, and voted. Job done!

Congratulations, responsible citizen whose civic duty sounds like it requires spreadsheets!

This person's not in my electorate, and as an Independent his chance of getting in is vanishingly small, but I was very taken indeed by his campaign video

That was delightful.

[heliopausa]

Thank you. :)

And yes - I'll be watching his seat very eagerly, come Saturday night! :)

[blueinkedfrost]

That video was absolutely delightful! Thank you so much for sharing. A real breath of fresh air.

I am voting on the day, because I can't resist that democracy sausage and bake sale from the local school at the polling booth. :) I know for whom I'm voting, have met or attended speeches from them, and am certainly looking forward to no longer being spammed with 22-minute Clive Palmer ads on YouTube.

[heliopausa]

But... are you Australian? I didn't realise! (Or have I known, and forgotten?) For some reason, I thought you were Scottish. :)

Cheers for voting, and for wonderful local fundraisers at the polling booth. And best wishes all of us for the result.

[blueinkedfrost]

Och aye, I'm rather flattered! I'm a fellow Australian indeed, of the land of budgie smugglers, raw onion eating, and drop bears.

[philippos42]

Good on you for doing your research!

LOL at that video, though. And they say Yanks are mad....

[philippos42]

Nah, really, good for him.

[heliopausa]

Yeah - it's great, isn't it? :D
I'd vote for him, if I could!