[EM] Australian voting process

[RLSuter at aol.com]

Any thoughts about this article or, more generally, Australia's
voting system? An interesting difference between it and the
IRV method that has gained wide support in the U.S. is that
voters have the option of voting for a single party and letting
that party allocate their preferences. This was in the L.A.
Times.

-Ralph Suter


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-aussies7oct07,1,5324864.st
ory?coll=la-headlines-world


In Australia, Ranking Process Is Key in a Tight Race

   Voters list candidates by order of preference in a
   system that's open to minority parties.

By Richard C. Paddock
Times Staff Writer

October 7, 2004

ADELAIDE, Australia -- When Australians vote Saturday to 
select members of Parliament and a prime minister, they
will be  participating in a process that election experts say
is one of the most democratic in the world.

With Prime Minister John Howard and Labor Party challenger 
Mark Latham locked in a tight race for the top job, victory
could well  hinge on an unusual, long-standing feature of
Australia's electoral  system: the preferential ballot.

Rather than voting for individual candidates for  Parliament,
voters rank those running in their district in order of preference.
If  no candidate wins a majority of first-place votes, the
outcome is  determined by the preferential rankings.
Members of the Parliament then elect the prime minister.

The system, used in few other places in the world, allows 
Australians to cast their ballots for minor party candidates
without necessarily throwing away their votes.

"I think it's the most powerful vote anywhere in the 
world," said Kevin Evans, an Australian who serves as
electoral advisor to the United Nations Development
Program in Indonesia. "It actually  means you can
vote your conscience, without it helping the party you 
most dislike."

If the United States had a similar system for presidential 
voting, minor party candidates such as consumer advocate
Ralph Nader  could be selected as a first choice -- with
voters knowing that their  second-place votes would then
go to the next candidate of their choice,  Democratic Party
nominee John F. Kerry or Republican President Bush.

"Preferences are more democratic," said Rod Tiffen, a 
political science professor at the University of Sydney.
"You could vote for Ralph Nader and have it not be a
wasted vote."

Australia has long been a leader in election innovations. 
It began using the secret ballot well before other countries;
when it was adopted in the United States it was known as
the "Australian ballot."

Another feature of the electoral system is compulsory 
voting. By law, all citizens are required to report to their
polling stations on election day and receive a ballot. How --
or whether --  they mark the ballot is up to them.

Those who don't go to the polls and cannot provide a 
legitimate excuse face a fine of about $14.

Many of the nation's parliamentary races are decided by 
the preferential vote, a system adopted during World War I.

Seeking a fourth three-year term in Saturday's election, 
Howard, 65, heads a conservative coalition of the Liberal
Party and  the National Party.

Latham, 43, the Labor Party leader, is attempting to win 
back power for his party after 8 1/2 years in opposition.

The campaign, limited to just six weeks, has seen a sharp 
debate on economic issues and a barrage of television ads
in which Howard accuses Latham of mismanagement while
serving as a small-town mayor and Latham questions
Howard's credibility.

Howard is a close ally of Bush and has sent troops to 
Iraq. Latham has promised to bring most of the 850
soldiers home by Christmas. In recent weeks, the Iraq
issue has played a minor role in the campaign.

One effect of the preferential ballot is a flourishing 
multiparty system that has resulted in the election of
minor party candidates to Parliament and prompts the
major parties to reach out to smaller voting blocs in their
quest for second-place votes.

"I think it works better because it gives small parties a 
chance," said Sally Giles, 18, a university student who
will be voting for the first time.

Polls indicate that the election will probably give a big 
boost to the steadily growing Green Party, which could
win as much as 12% of the national vote.

In the campaign's final days, Latham has been courting the 
Green vote by offering a plan to save Tasmania's giant
old-growth trees, which are being clear-cut and shipped
to Japan to make paper products.

Howard offered a proposal Wednesday to preserve trees not 
now slated for logging and emphasized the need to protect
timber industry jobs.

"If you look at the recent polls we may be ahead ... on 
the primary vote, but we are getting very few Green
preferences," Howard said earlier on Australian radio.
"And if the flow of Green preferences is as solid as is
forecast in those polls, well, the result could be very
tight and it could go against us."

Under the preferential selection rules, voters also have 
the option of voting for a single party and letting that party
allocate  their preferences. The Green Party has pledged
its preferences to the Labor Party.

Some Australians grumble about the nation's compulsory 
voting law, and, in protest, a few refuse to go to the polls.

But most Australians accept their duty, and turnout 
usually is about 95%.

"Everybody should have to vote," said Robert Capponi, 38, 
the manager of an Adelaide convenience store.

"Everybody should have an opinion and should voice their 
opinion."