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Five things to remember when you vote

POSTED ON 17 May, 2019

Vote Australia today launched a video campaign through social media reminding Australian voters to remember five things when they go to vote during the 2019 federal election.

Responding to public and media discussion about voter apathy and disengagement, the campaign aims to help voters be more aware and engaged when they attend a polling place.

A video titled 'Five things to remember when you vote' gives voters simple tips for a better polling place experience. They are: 

  1. Check that 'How-to-vote' cards are authentic and are not fakes.  Fake how-to-vote cards can deceive a voter into numbering a ballot paper in a way they didn't intend which could favour another candidate.
  2. Voters will be asked for their full name, address and if they have voted before in the election, as required by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.
  3. Check that ballot papers are properly initialled by an authorised election official.
  4. Double-check that ballot papers are completed properly.
  5. Be courteous toward hardworking election officials.

The reminder campaign will run up to 6.00 PM on Saturday 18 May 2019.

Vote Australia is an incorporated not-for-profit public-interest entity registered in New South Wales. Vote Australia is not affiliated with any political party or organisation and receives no funding from government or from any other organisation. It is funded entirely by public donation and staffed by volunteers whose focus is helping voters navigate Australian democracy.

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  • donated 2023-05-19 19:20:45 +1000
  • commented on A fair voting system 2023-04-30 16:55:07 +1000
    A summary/update of my earlier comments.
    Only, repeat ONLY, Borda-style counts guarantee fair counting of preferential voting elections for single or multimember electorates. Historically, Borda counts have been rejected (18 to 20th century, e.g. “Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem”) because they will contradict an “Absolute Majority” – but that’s only when the voters make it clear that the “absolute” majority is weak AND that preferences prove that there is a MORE-preferred candidate.

    E.g., If Candidate A gets 51% of first preferences and 49% of last preferences, but Candidate D (of 4 candidates) gets 0% 1st preferences but 100% of 2nd preferences (extremely unlikely but this is s reductio-ad-absurdum proof) hence Candidate D is clearly the preferred candidate with an average preference of 2.000 which is much closer to average 1st preferences than A’s average of 2.470. Another way of expressing that is is that A is only 51.000% of the way to winning unanimously, whereas D is (1-(2.000-1)/(4-1)) = 66.667% of the way towards unanimous 1st preferences – (two steps out of 3 steps from last of 4th to 2nd out of 4). That’s my DCAP count where DCAP=100x(1-(PrefAv-1)/(Candidates-1). The Borda count applicable is Borda=DCAPx(Candidates-1)xVoters = 153 for A for 100 voters, and 200 for D in the above example.

    DCAP easily accepts Partial Preferential Votes and SPLIT Partial Preferential Votes (e.g., if there are 9 candidates and a voter votes 1st 2nd & 3rd preferences and 8th & 9th preferences then DCAP “normalises” that vote by filling the 4 empty preference boxes with the average (5.5) of the 4 missing numbers (4, 5, 6 & 7). Further DCAP can often correct voters errors such as omitting a number of duplicating a number, provided that the voter’s intention is logically clear. “Normalising” ensures that every vote carries exactly the same weight as every other vote.

    DCAP is the “Candidate” version count for single-member electorates, whereas DPAP is the “Party” version which allows for fair proportional representation on a Party basis in multi-member electorates.
  • commented on Compulsory voting 2023-04-30 16:06:02 +1000
    I plead ignorance re block-chain techniques. But yes we need robust voter ID. My main concern is as I’ve expressed in the “A Fair Voting System”. This section is about Compulsory Voting which I strongly endorse as a Responsibility to earn our Rights.
  • commented on Compulsory voting 2023-04-30 14:37:12 +1000
    Which consensus do you guys suggest? PoW? PoET?