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Re: [OM] (Severely OT) Voting, was DNA analysis

Subject: Re: [OM] (Severely OT) Voting, was DNA analysis
From: Andrew Fildes <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 19 May 2013 09:38:21 +1000
Nothing that simple.
It's preferential - you vote for all the candidates in preference order - 
number them.
Then they keep redistributing the votes of the lesser candidates by preference 
order until some has 50%+1
And the upper house is proportional representation - statewide, so the ballot 
paper can have a lot of people on it. One infamous example, afterwards called 
the 'Bedsheet', had a hundred or so. But with that system you can now opt to 
follow a pre-determined line where you vote for a party or individual and 
preferences are distributed along their pre-registered choice.
Somehow we manage all that with a paper and pencil - no machinery!
Thus, we don't see an effort to 'get the vote out' as in the UK or US - here 
you have volunteers handing out 'how to vote' cards for each candidate at the 
booth, showing their preferred preference order.
And there is a lot of bargaining over preferences. beforehand.
The volunteers then turn into scrutineers for each party, making sure that the 
manual count at the local level is done fairly.
Got that? :-)
Ballots that have an error are called informals and may count if the voters 
intention is clear.
Lazy sods who just number the ballot from top to bottom are called 'donkey' 
voters.
You can go into any booth on the day and lodge an 'absentee' vote - or lodge a 
postal vote in advance.
Electoral Commission officers go around prisons, hospitals, etc. and organise 
voting.
The only out is if you are under 18, mentally incompetent or are serving a 
prison term longer than a couple of years.

There'll be an Psephology exam next week.

Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.soultheft.com
Author/Publisher: The SLR Compendium - http://www.blurb.com/books/3732813



On 19/05/2013, at 2:20 AM, Mike Lazzari wrote:

> Andrew, do you use the "automatic runoff" voting procedure?

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