Thorium Girl

Australia has a compulsory voting system. Under this system, all Australian’s are required to attend a polling location on election day to vote in a secret ballot, however as the ballot is secret, they can still deliver a blank ballot or ‘spoil their ballot papers’.

Compulsory voting ensures that governments do not neglect less politically active sections of society and an opportunity for those who wish to vote, to do so without fear or intimidation.

The government & their policies on running the country affects everyone, and everyone has the opportunity to vote in the election of the government. Voting is your chance to voice your concerns and support policies you favour by voting for the party that has policies that align closer than the other parties to the issues that concern you.

It has become a large misconception this election, since Mark Latham’s 60 minutes story was aired, that submitting a blank ballot would somehow send a message to the major political parties. Blank voting forms, along with informal or spoiled ballots (ballots with obscenities, names & pictures etc) are simply not counted. No message will come to the attention of the major parties, except that a number of blank votes will not be affecting the amount of seats held by these parties. A very scary figure was on a poll at ninemsn, approximately 50,000 people polled they would be submitting a blank vote, that’s 0.002% of voters that admitted on the poll, that their vote would not count!

If you wish to send the big parties a message, hit them where it hurts, so to speak. The major parties rely on having the majority of seats in the house of representatives or the senate to hold the balance of power. Losing seats tends to get the attention of the parties.

If you have had enough of the major parties, you can vote a independent or another party that does not give its preferences to the major parties.

Another very important part of your vote is who you vote into the senate, you can vote above the line for the party you wish to be represented by in the senate or below the line in the order of your preferences.

You can check out all the candidates for the house of representatives and the senate in your electorate at the Australian Electoral Commission Website

Don’t waste your vote on Saturday with a blank vote, have your say and send a real message.

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Ever wondered how your political views are categorized? What banner you fall under? Take the 10 question Australian political quiz and find out. Quiz from the Liberal Democratic party website.

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