Double dissolution federal election 2016 - it’s happening!
The basic info
Australia is going to the polls on Saturday the 2nd of July. In a federal election, you vote for two houses - the lower house, or House of Representatives, and the upper house, or Senate. If you’re not enrolled yet, you have until May 23rd. Do so here! Please note that in Australia, unlike in the States, you don’t declare a party.
The House of Reps vote determines your local member. The amount of electorates won by a party determines who the Prime Minister is. There are 150 electorates in Australia; if the Coalition has a majority of 76 or higher, then they’ve won the election and the leader of the Coalition (currently Malcolm Turnbull) becomes Prime Minister.
The Senate vote is set by state - all states get twelve senators, and territories (the ACT and NT) get two. There are a few ways to vote for the senate, outlined below.
In Australia, it is compulsory to enroll, and compulsory to show up and get your name marked off on election day. It’s not actually compulsory to vote once you get your name marked off - you could vote informally, also known as a donkey vote, by doing basically anything against the rules - but please note that there’s no real benefit in doing so.
What is a double dissolution?
Senators have a six-year term. In a normal election, only half of the senators go up for election. However, this year is a double dissolution, which means the entire Senate is being dissolved and is up for election. This is because the senate has rejected legislature a certain amount of times. While the Coalition holds the lower house, the upper house is not under Coalition control, and a double dissolution is a way to scrap the entire senate and start over.
This can be risky. Normally, a senator is elected once they reach a quota (or via preferences, see below) of 14.28% of the vote for that state. In a double dissolution, though, the quota drops to 7.69%, as a state is voting in twelve senators instead of just six.
There have been just six double dissolutions in Australian history. The last was in 1987. (Bob Hawke, with the ALP, was returned to power, but the senate was still against him. In light of this, he decided to drop the legislation that had triggered the DD in the first place.)
What are Australia’s political parties?
Australia’s current government is run by the Coalition. This is made up of the Liberal Party and the Nationals, which are both conservative (despite the name!) - the Liberal Party is generally for urban areas, the Nationals are rural. They range from centre-right to far-right. The current leader of the Liberal Party, and current Prime Minister, is Malcolm Turnbull.
The federal opposition is the Australian Labor Party. They range from left to centre-left. The current leader of the ALP is Bill Shorten.
Australia’s largest minor party is the Greens. They are currently led by Richard Di Natale, and are left to far-left. They currently have 10 seats in the senate and one in the house of reps.
Other minor parties with current representation include Family First (conservative Christian), the Palmer United Party, the Liberal Democratic Party (libertarians), Katter’s Australian Party, and the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party (I know, I know…). The PUP have two representatives (one in each house), the others have one each. There are also four independents.
What is preferential voting?
Australia uses a preferential voting system. This means that on your ballot sheets, for both houses, you can list candidates in order of preference. If a candidate gets an absolute majority (50% + 1) for the house of reps, or reaches the quota (7.69%) for the senate, then they get voted in. If they don’t, then it goes down to preferences.
Preferential voting is really cool, because it means you can vote for exactly who you want to vote for without wasting your vote. Once all the ballots are in, all of the 1 votes are counted. If there’s an absolute majority/quota, then that’s pretty straightforward. If not, then the candidate with the lowest amount of primary votes gets their votes dissolved, and distributed to whoever the voter marked as their second choice. Is there a majority/quota? No? The process repeats.
Let’s say an electorate has four candidates - we’ll go with ALP, Liberal, Greens, and an independent - and 50 voters. A candidate would need 26 votes to get an absolute majority, but the preferences are primary votes are distributed like so:
Liberals: 19
ALP: 18
Greens: 7
Ind: 6
The Liberals have more votes than the ALP, but still not enough for an absolute majority. Our independent has the lowest amount of votes, so the six papers that mark them as their primary candidate now go to whoever was marked as 2nd on the paper. After their six votes are distributed, the results now look like this:
ALP: 21
Liberals: 21
Greens: 8
Still no absolute majority, so now the Greens candidate has their votes dissolved. Most Greens voters tend to put the ALP as their major party, but we can say that there’s one outlier who went with the Libs second. Their eight votes are distibuted:
ALP: 29
Liberals: 21
The ALP now has a majority of 26 votes or more, and are voted in for that electorate! This was largely due to Greens preferences, as the Liberals had a higher primary vote.
How do I vote in the House of Representatives?
The House of Reps is pretty simple. Each of the 150 electorates have their own list of candidates - this could be as short as one ALP, one Liberal, and one Green, or it could include a melange of minor parties and independents. To vote in the House of Reps, you simply number each candidate by order of preference.
I’m a Greens voter, so I would put the Greens first, then the ALP, then the Liberal Party. Other minor parties and independents get slotted in according to their views. A really really good independent with amazing policies would get listed above the ALP and below the Greens, most minor parties would go between the ALP and the Libs, and really repugnant parties (like Family First and One Nation) I put below the Libs.
(This is just how I, personally, would vote, by the way!)
So, why list a minor party below the ALP, when the ALP would end up with my vote anyway?
Because putting the Greens as my primary vote would indicate to the major parties that my values and policies most closely align with them. Let’s say I list the Greens first, and the ALP wins my electorate with the help of Greens preferences. The ALP candidate would then go, “Oh hey, you know what, it looks like the Greens voters were pretty instrumental in getting me elected. I should be supporting Greens policies as well to best serve my electorate.”
(In theory, anyway…)
How do I vote in the Senate?
These rules have just changed! The senate paper is usually huge - states like NSW can have over a hundred candidates. Candidates are listed horizontally - each party/group has a column, and then candidates are listed down the column.
Previously, your option has been to vote above the line by simply marking a 1 for your party or group of choice, which means that their internally-selected preferences will determine where your vote goes to someone who doesn’t get a quota, which can mean that like… 0.1% of the state can vote for the Australian Motorists Enthusiasts Party and they still get in because of weird preference flows. Or, if you want to ensure your vote goes exactly where you want it to go, you can number every single candidate.
It takes, uh, a really long time.
Thankfully, there are now easier options. You can now number at least six boxes above the line, or at least twelve boxes below the line. You can vote for more, but not less (like, you can’t just number three above the line). This still ensures that your vote goes to who you want, but doesn’t mean you have to number like a hundred boxes individually.
Where can I get election information?
Want official rules and lists of information? Try the AEC (Australian Electoral Commission).
Want mostly-unbiased news, analysis and coverage? Try the ABC.
Daily newspapers are dicey. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age are the better options, both owned by Fairfax. Slight left-wing slant. The Australian, Courier Mail, Adelaide Advertiser, et cetera, are all owned by Murdoch and have a massive right-wing slant.
What happens next?
We get 55 days of election campaigning. If you haven’t given up and moved to New Zealand by July 2nd, then we go to the polls. If you’re enrolled (and if you’re over 18, you should be!), show up at your local polling place (the AEC will have a list), have your name marked off, and receive your two papers. Make your vote and put them in the indicated boxes. Go get yourself a cupcake from the inevitable cake stall or a sausage from the sausage sizzle as a reward.
Can’t get to a polling place in your electorate? Here are some other options!
Good luck, everyone. It’s gonna be an interesting two months.
(via fluffmugger)
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The election is one week away, so I’m bringing this back! Congratulations on surviving nearly fifty days of campaigning...
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solid overview
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