Oz Politics

Done my duty

John Quiggin7 Comments

I’ve just been down to the local school to vote. My totally irrelevant and unscientific observations:

* Voting early(ish). The polling booths have been busy all day. Since the total number of voters can’t change much, it looks as if people are voting earlier than usual

* Return of the true believers. I’ve always had a superstitious belief that attitudes to how-to-vote cards are indicative of something. I saw a string of people walk straight past the Liberal canvasser, which suggests to me that Labor voters are feeling keener than they have for some time.

* I must say it was pleasant to vote the Labor party ticket for once. Next time I’ll go back to my usual practice of carefully ranking all the candidates, but this time I agreed with Labor’s proposed order for the Reps and I trusted the backroom guys to get the preferences right for the Senate.

* Some commenters pointed out that by voting Labor I denied the Greens their allocation of public funding. But I think my defence of their economic policies against the bizarre attacks mounted by the right was worth more than the $2 or so my first preference would have gained them

7 thoughts on “Done my duty”

  1. Having worked on booths for years and years in state and federal polls, a large number of people refusing the Lib how to vote is a good sign – it often predicted who would win the booth.

  2. I’ve just been to vote too, one thing I did notice is that all the election officials were women, I wonder how they select them. Oh, and the guy handing out how to vote cards for the greens was wearing a green vest 🙂 and argueing with the FFP ppl.. 🙂

  3. You might have gotten away with it in QLD John, but your readers in other states might want to vote below the line if they plan to vote ALP in the Senate.
    In some states the ALP is preferencing Family First before the Greens or the Democrats. Tasmanians, Victorians and New South Welshmen might be particularly at risk

  5. Sociological oddity. Who should be present at my Melbourne Ports polling booth, handing out how-to-vote cards, but Michael Danby himself. Can’t recall any earlier occasion on which a well-known and long-established incumbent felt the need to do this in person. Perhaps he really is rattled, although according to yesterday’s Herald Sun it would need a 5% swing to unseat him, and although for every pro-Liberal poster on display in local shopping centres there are at least a dozen posters for Danby himself.

  7. Election Day
    It’s election day back in Australia and I wish I was there for our great secular ritual, heading down to the polling booth at Downer shops in Canberra. Looks like pretty nice weather across the country, a nice sunny day,…

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