Voting above the line? Read this.

[freediver]

I have updated the guide for the 2013 election:

http://www.ozpolitic.com/electoral-refo ... tml#guides" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The increase in the number of microparties makes it even more important to check where your vote will end up, if you plan to vote above the line. Some of the predictions are quite alarming. For example, in South Australia the new “No

carbon tax” microparty has a 64% chance of election as long as its primary vote is 0.15% or higher, based on historical preference flows and current polling.

[IQS.RLOW]

There is nothing alarming about that.

[Rorschach]

As long as they don't end up with Labor, The Greens, or some other lunatic party.
As long as they don't end up creating a blockage in the Senate, and making a double dissolution necessary.

Which tends to point to.... a 1 above the line.

[mantra]

The increase in the number of microparties makes it even more important to check where your vote will end up, if you plan to vote above the line. Some of the predictions are quite alarming. For example, in South Australia the new “No

For those voting for a minor party - this year in particular if you care - get a general idea from a voting website - eg. the two listed below.

https://www.clueyvoter.com/, or

http://www.belowtheline.org.au/

Now some advice from me on what to do with your preferences.

I often get asked all sorts of questions about strategic voting and how to do it in the Senate.

My advice, don't even try unless you have perfect knowledge of the order that various parties will finish. Don't try and withhold your ballot paper from a certain candidate until a certain point because you won't have enough knowledge of the order candidates and parties will finish.

My advice is to list the parties in the order you would like to see them elected. It is the only sensible way to vote unless you have perfect knoweldge of the order parties will finish.

http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/201 ... enate.html

[mellie]

How to vote in our nations best interest this election...

http://www.liberal.org.au/voting

[skippy]

Just vote _1 GREENS above the line. If everybody does this we will live in utopia. I've already voted as I have to work on Saturday and don't want to line up to vote in my break.
I voted GREENS _1 and then preferenced Justine Elliot in the HORs just in case the unthinkable happens and every body else doesn't vote GREENS too.
Other than that GREENS -1 above the line, there were 110 bloody names on the NSW senate ballot paper.

[Aldebaran5]

Just vote _1 GREENS above the line. If everybody does this we will live in utopia. I've already voted as I have to work on Saturday and don't want to line up to vote in my break.
I voted GREENS _1 and then preferenced Justine Elliot in the HORs just in case the unthinkable happens and every body else doesn't vote GREENS too.
Other than that GREENS -1 above the line, there were 110 bloody names on the NSW senate ballot paper.

I doubt if I'll be following your advice, but 110 names! Can you imagine how big a job that will be for the counters, especially if they find it difficult to read some numbers?

[Black Orchid]

110 names indicates long queues and very long waits on Saturday. I think I will opt to vote early. Tomorrow sounds good.

[Neferti]

I voted early last week.

1 Liberal above the line in the Senate.

It has absolutely nothing to do with Tony Abbot becoming PM. It is about getting LEGISLATION through the SENATE.

Canberra has 2 Senators ...... Kate Lundy (ALP) and .... ? We do NOT need another leftard err Greenie, and I think that Canberra will (hopefully) not vote for the Green person in the Senate,

[Black Orchid]

FEARS are mounting in Coalition ranks that preference deals between minor parties and voter confusion on Senate ballot papers could cost it vital upper house spots at the election on Saturday.

Liberal Party campaign director Brian Loughnane has cited feedback from pre-poll stations that people intending to vote Liberal may have unintentionally voted for the Liberal Democratic Party.

In NSW, the LDP has preferenced One Nation's Pauline Hanson ahead of the Liberals and there is concern that LDP preferences might help Ms Hanson knock off Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos.

With the LDP above the Liberals on the ballot paper in five of six states, the concern is that its vote may be inflated by voters mistaking it for the Liberal Party.

In Queensland there is concern that Bob Katter's deal with Labor and Clive Palmer's decision to preference the Greens ahead of the major parties could prove telling on election night.
Digital Pass $1 for first 28 Days

Mr Katter's lead candidate is singer James Blundell, who is seen as having a chance of taking a seat from the Coalition.

With the Greens polling below their 2010 result in every state except Victoria, South Australian senator Sarah Hanson-Young looks to be in trouble amid suggestions that independent Nick Xenophon could gain two quotas in his own right.

The concerns over voter confusion come after political consultant Glen Druery brokered a deal with minor parties early this year on how to maximise preferences at the expense of the major parties.

So-called "vote harvesting" in the election could prove potentially lucrative for minor parties, which stand to gain nearly $3 a vote if they can get their support above 4 per cent.

Mr Loughnane told The Australian that the Liberal Party had strongly opposed the registration of the LDP because of the possibility of confusion for voters.

"It is clear from feedback at pre-poll stations that people intending to vote Liberal in the Senate may unintentionally have voted for the LDP," he said.

Campaigning in Rockhampton and Townsville at the weekend, Tony Abbott urged voters to deliver their first preference to the Coalition. "People should not think for a second that they can risk voting for their old mate the independent, their old mate the celebrity, their old mate the Labor candidate," the Opposition Leader said. "If they do that they are likely to end up with another bad Labor-Green government."

Coalition concerns about voter confusion come after the LDP was given the first position on the Senate ballot in NSW. The LDP gives Ms Hanson its 10th preference and Senator Sinodinos its 79th preference. The LDP is also ahead of the Liberal Party on the ballot in South Australia, where it has preferenced the Katter Party ahead of the Liberals.

On the WA ballot, the LDP has preferenced the Palmer United Party 11th and the Liberals 43rd.

Veteran Nationals senator Ron Boswell lashed out at deals between micro-parties that did not have any ideological connection as "subverting democracy".

Stupid system and one which confuses many no doubt.