MP berates informal voters after dud ballot spike in NSW seat

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨zero_gravitas@aussie.zone⁩ to ⁨australianpolitics@aussie.zone⁩

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-06/informal-votes-riverina-electorate-michael-mccormack/105259668

In short:

A high number of informal votes in a rural NSW electorate with a record number of candidates has been labelled “shameful” by the region’s MP.

By May 6 more than 11,000 informal votes had been recorded in the Riverina electorate, accounting for more than 10 per cent of the voter turnout.

What’s next?

Riverina MP Michael McCormack and political scientist Dominic O’Sullivan say the voting system should be reformed.

source

Comments

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dumblederp@aussie.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Guy who relies on votes complains about wasted votes. News at 6.

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No1@aussie.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
My understanding is that an informal vote IS a valid way of voting.

Is he whinging that they didn’t vote for him?

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- princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Yeah, I commonly assert to people that we don’t actually have mandatory voting in Australia. The only thing that’s mandatory is showing up, having your name crossed off the roll, and putting your ballots in the box. Considering the sanctity we treat the secret ballot with, that’s always going to be the case!
  
  Besides, I get a lot less irked by people doing that in Australia, because it’s still a very active decision that (some? most?) people make. Compare that to America where a bunch of lazy cunts just don’t bother (and a bunch more can’t vote because the government isn’t obliged to make it easy for them)!
  
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- techno_analyst@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  The Riverina electorate had 13 lower house candidates – the equal-highest nationally – and he said such a “large number” was known to confuse voters.
  
  Old mate thinks the locals can’t handle double digit numbers.
  
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  - Salvo@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    There are two reasons why people place Informal Votes;
    
    Ignorance (they don’t know how our great Australian Preferential Ballot works)
    
    No confidence (they do not feel that any candidate can represent their interests.
    
    Given the fact that voters had 13 different candidates to choose from, and still voted informally, I think that it may be the first reason. I think that Old Mate now has a mandate to invest in education for his constituents so they now how our Australian Preferential Ballot works for next time.
    
    …aec.gov.au/HouseDivisionPage-31496-250.htm
    
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- eureka@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  My understanding is that an informal vote IS a valid way of voting.
  
  An intentional informal vote is a valid form of political expression. I think it’s stupid idealism, and it’s not a valid vote, but it’s valid as political expression. Like you mentioned, there are also accidental informal votes, like [1, 2, 3, 1, 4] or [1, , , , ].
  
  (A donkey vote, [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], is a valid vote)
  
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  - Tenderizer@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    More people should spoil their ballot instead of doing the donkey vote. If they want to express disinterest, the former is better than the latter.
    
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  - Zagorath@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I wish we could get data on this, but it is unfortunately so hard to know which is which, so the AEC doesn’t even try. Is the person who numbered all boxes apart from two intending to vote informally? Did they make a mistake in filling out their ballot? Did they misunderstand how it works? What about the person who filled out a Senate ballot above the line completely correctly, but also wrote “1” next to like 8 different candidates below the line?
    
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Nath@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
🎶 Why can’t you seeee~eeeee~
You belong to meeee~eeeee~ 🎶

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MisterFrog@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Wait NSW uses first past the post in state and local elections?

A search later: it’s preferential, but optionally so. elections.nsw.gov.au/…/examples-of-ballot-papers

I dunno if I’m a fan of less than 5 preferences being mandatory.

We must resist first past the post voting at all costs.

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- zero_gravitas@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Agreed. If there’s any confusion among voters, I reckon it’s largely due to NSW’s inconsistent optional-preferential ballots.
  
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  - MisterFrog@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Yeah I agree, it’s definitely on NSW to reform, not everyone else…
    
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UnfortunateDoorHinge@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
13 people in the ballot is a bit excessive. Should be less than 10. But hate to say it but that area considered or primarily older and slower folk. A better ballot has 5 or 6 candidates. Stop giving the oldies more opportunities to screw up.

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- zero_gravitas@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  How about 95 candidates? ctvnews.ca/…/longest-ballot-group-declares-victor…
  
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