If I were elected to office …
I’d allow preferential voting above the line for the Senate. Currently, to vote above the line you simply place a single 1 against the party of your choice, and then the party distributes your preferences for you according to their submitted group voting ticket. The sordid realities of backroom preference deals means that is almost certain that the preferences will not be distributed the way you would like.
The alternative to above the line voting is to number all 84 candidates below the line – tedious and error prone. Why can’t we just number all the parties/groups above the line instead of having to do it for every candidate on the ballot paper?
To improve voting by having less voting, be voting 1 for me.
[This content was originally posted to Google Buzz, #70]