[EM] preference swapping shenanigans in Australia

[LAYTON Craig]

Hi Ken,

you wrote:

>[KB]  Does the Australian system require a voter to rank every candidate
for
>an office else the ballot is invalid?  If so, would the distressing results
>you've mentioned likely be different if voters could rank fewer than all
the
>candidates?

The rules vary from state-to-state.  In Federal elections, voters are
required to number all candidates.  I believe that the election that has
just been held (Western Australia) also requires voters to do this.  My
state (New South Wales) doesn't, and I'm not sure about Queensland (the
other state with an upcomming election).  Certainly, the leader of the Labor
party in Queensland has avoided the 'do we put One Nation last or don't we'
issue by having a Labor party first campaign, with no publicised
preferences.

But to answer your question, no, it wouldn't matter very much.  The reason
for all this trouble is that many voters follow their party's how to vote
cards (sometimes over and above their own inclinations), which are handed
out outside polling booths.  They are basically a facsimilie of the ballot
paper with all the numbers filled in.  Most people who currently follow the
cards, would continue to do so, even if there was no requirement to number
all the squares.

South Australia (we have very inventive names for our states) has actually
banned parties handing them out, and have a single how to vote card from
each party encased in glass inside the polling booth.  A better solution is
rotated ballot papers, which they have in Tasmania (which, in my opinion,
has the best voting system ever used for political elections anywhere).  The
rotated ballot is designed to eliminate the donkey vote, which can be a
serious problem, particularly if you require voters to number all the
candidates.  It has the added benifit of making how to vote cards less
effective, because the facsimilie of the ballot on the card will probably
not match the ballot paper in front of the voter, making it more trouble for
the voter to follow the card than her own preferences.