• STV Election for seven (7) positions
• 28 Candidates
• 6 Groups and 2 ungrouped candidates
• Informal Vote 2.9%

Katy Gallagher (Labor) was elected on the first count with over a quota. Her surplus was distributed and there were no exhausted votes. Naturally there had to have been votes which gave Gallagher only a single 1 but these votes remained with Gallagher and the surplus was carried by the other votes. After her surplus was distributed, no other candidate had a quota; candidates were then excluded from the bottom.

After sixteen candidates had been excluded and two more candidates were elected, having obtained quotas, Tim Bohm (Bullet Train for Canberra) was excluded at count 37. He was the last of the minor party and ungrouped candidates left in the count and his vote had increased from 2218 to 5464 votes. All these extra votes came from voters who initially chose another candidate. 4591 of Bohm’s votes were transferred to other candidates and only 873 votes exhausted. 84% of his votes found a continuing preference despite the fact that he was the last candidate left in his own group and nineteen candidates were unable to receive preferences, three having already been elected and sixteen excluded.

It is also worth noting that there were eight minor party and ungrouped candidates contesting the ballot in Molonglo. Some voters may well have preferenced all of these candidates and none of the major party candidates in the hope that at least one of the minor party candidates could garner sufficient votes to be elected. These votes would have complied with the more restrictive formal requirement of preferencing as many candidates as required for election but would still have exhausted. At this point in the count there were 1459 (1.6%) exhausted votes. This is surely a very low exhaustion rate and must indicate that the voters in the ACT, at least those voting for minor party candidates, are comfortable with, and able to make, informed choices in their voting. This pattern of very few votes exhausting as minor party and ungrouped candidates were excluded was repeated in the other two ACT electorates. Very few votes exhausted while there were candidates still ‘alive’ in the same group.

The argument that fewer votes would exhaust if it was compulsory to vote for as many candidates as required for election should be treated with caution.

The first consequence of such a requirement is that every group would run at least as many candidates as required to ensure the vote is formal. In Molonglo, eighteen more candidates would have contested the election; this increase in the number of candidates would increase the informal vote.

The second consequence is that many voters would stop numbering because every group would have seven candidates and the number of votes exhausting as parties were excluded would actually rise.

This can be observed in the seat of Molonglo. When Simon Corbell, the last remaining Labor candidate, was elected he had a surplus of 1278 votes but 921 votes exhausted (in the count they are treated as loss by fraction). At this stage there were five candidates (3 Liberals and 2 Greens) vying for three positions and whilst these 921 votes would not, this time, have changed the party representation in Molonglo they could have changed the individuals who were elected.

Had the Labor Party only run six candidates, or the heavy handed instruction “Number seven boxes from 1 to 7 in the order of your choice” on the ballot paper been different, then many of these Labor voters may have been encouraged to continue voting outside of the party grouping.

An incorrectly marked ballot paper is informal as soon as it is placed in the ballot box, but an exhausted vote does not manifest itself until all the candidates preferenced are excluded from the ballot. In an optional preferential ballot, a vote that would be declared informal under more stringent rules remains in the count for every winning candidate and the first runner-up. Had the electorate voted differently then different votes would exhaust – every exhausted vote therefore has the potential to remain viable and not exhaust. Surely it is the democratic right of every voter to have their vote considered until the last possible moment?

Conclusion

Compulsory marking of preferences has consequences. A requirement to preference every candidate results in an excessive number of informal votes. A requirement to preference a set number, say the number of candidates to be elected, results in an increase in the informal vote and an increase in the number of candidates contesting the ballot. It also increases the likelihood that many of these candidates will be makeweight candidates (who actually don’t want to be elected), and, paradoxically, a likelihood that the number of exhausted votes will actually rise. Both of these options also undemocratically deny voters the right to have their vote counted.

We need to eradicate this Australian disease from our body politic. The Irish, Maltese and ACT policy of treating voters with respect needs to be followed in every Australian jurisdiction.

[N.B. Above-the-line voting, either with or without group voting tickets, is not the answer. The distortion this causes to the democratic expression can be, and has been, easily seen by the election of candidates with miniscule support. It will be the subject of a future article in this newsletter.]