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词条 Group voting tickets in Australia
释义

  1. "Above the line" voting

  2. History

  3. Criticism

  4. References

  5. External links

A group voting ticket (GVT) is a simplifies preferential voting system in elections that use the single transferable vote or the alternative vote system. Under the system, for multi-member electoral divisions, a group or party registers a GVT before an election with the electoral commission. When a voter selects a group or party “above the line” on a ballot paper, their vote is distributed according to the registered GVT for that group. The system is used for the upper houses of the Australian state parliaments of Victoria and Western Australia. It has been abolished by New South Wales and South Australia. It was used in the Australian Senate from the 1984 federal election[1] until the 2013 federal election. A form of GVT is used for some elections in Fiji.

Every Australian jurisdiction that has introduced GVTs has ballot papers with two sections separated by a line. Voters may choose to vote either “above the line” or "below the line". By voting “below the line” voters can rank each candidate individually by numbering all boxes. Voters can choose to vote for a group ticket by placing the number '1' in one of the ticket boxes above the line. The single number '1' selects a GVT from one group or party, and all preferences are then distributed according to the GVT. This leads to pre-election trading between parties on how each group will allocate later preferences to other groups and candidates.

When GVTs are available, about 95% of voters choose to use this method.[2]

The introduction of GVTs has led to the establishment of a multitude of minor parties and the creation of preference deals between them, enabling one or more candidates within the group to receive sufficient preferences to achieve the requisite quota for election, especially in multi-member electoral divisions. Such preference deals were first arranged for the 1999 NSW election, which saw the Minor Party Alliance succeed in having three of its members elected.

"Above the line" voting

GVTs have been abolished for federal elections and those for elections in New South Wales and South Australia, and continues to be available in Victoria and Western Australia.

In elections for the Australian Senate, the New South Wales Legislative Council and the South Australian Legislative Council, voters can express an order of preferences for parties by voting '1', '2' and so on in different boxes “above the line”. The scope of a number above the line is merely the list of candidates for each party. The party supplies a list of its candidates to the electoral commission before the election. All three jurisdictions have limited optional preferential voting, which enables voters to number as many boxes as they choose, but those only apply to the registered party list.

New South Wales changed "above the line" voting for Legislative Council before the 2003 NSW election to optional preferential voting. Parties now require higher minimum number of qualified members. A candidate group for Legislative Council elections now requires at least 15 candidates to be eligible for an "above the line" box. Parties do not register group preference tickets and a single 1 in a group’s box only preferences the candidates in the group. Voters wishing to preference multiple parties with an "above the line" vote can use lower preferences ("2", "3", and so on) in those parties' "above the line" boxes. The changes reduced the number of parties contesting elections and increased the difficulty for small, upstart parties to be elected.

History

In Australian elections for the upper houses which use proportional representation as well as preferential voting, it may be daunting to have to fill in scores of boxes. Complete preferences were compulsory in the Australian Senate and other jurisdictions, and still are in Western Australian elections. Some voters would choose their early preferences and then vote for other candidates in the order they appeared on the ballot paper—known as a donkey vote; or fill in the form incorrectly, leading to an informal vote. To ease this task, GVTs allow the voter to choose one party or group, and all the remaining squares are deemed to be filled in according to a registered party ticket.

GVTs were introduced for elections for the Australian Senate by the Hawke Labor Government to reduce the number of invalid votes by simplifying the voting system for the Senate. Under the new system a voter cast a valid vote if they placed a single mark above the line instead of the scores on a typical Senate ballot paper. It was first used at the 1984 federal election.[1] For the Australian Senate, the rate of informal voting was reduced from around 9% before 1984, to around 3% under “above the line” GVT system.

GVTs were introduced in South Australia in 1985[3] and in Victoria in 1988.[4]

Following the use of tactical preference tickets and the record number of minor parties contesting the 1999 NSW election for the New South Wales Legislative Council, a modified form of "above the line" voting was introduced in the 2003 NSW election, effectively abolishing the GVTs. Other changes to party registration processes also resulted in many fewer parties contesting NSW Legislative Council elections.

Group voting tickets for the Senate were abolished as part of the voting reforms prior to the 2016 election in favour of optional preferential voting. The government proposed reform of the Senate voting system in February 2016.[5] The Senate reform legislation passed both houses of the Parliament of Australia in March 2016.[6]

Following the similar Senate changes which took effect from the 2016 federal election, as of the 2018 state election, South Australia's single transferable vote in the proportionally represented upper house was changed from group voting tickets to optional preferential voting − instructions for above the line votes are to mark '1' and then further preferences are optional as opposed to preference flows from simply '1' above the line being determined by group voting tickets, while instructions for voters who instead opt to vote below the line are to provide at least 12 preferences as opposed to having to number all candidates, and with a savings provision to admit ballot papers which indicate at least 6 below the line preferences.[7]

Criticism

Group voting tickets voting has been criticised because electors do not know, and have no practical way of finding out, where their preferences are being directed. All details are published in advance, both electronically and in a free booklet published by the Australian Electoral Commission or the appropriate State electoral commission. The booklets may be viewed at polling booths on request to the poll officials. However, such is the complexity of the information that it is unlikely that the average voter could easily determine the fate of their vote's preferences particularly, as some parties submit multiple allocations (e.g., 33% to one party, 66% to another, and so on), and the effects are integrally wound up in preference deals between other parties.

Using GVTs, the potential for tactical voting by parties is greatly increased. Because voters are not usually aware of how a party's preferences are directed, GVTs have allowed minor parties with low support in the community to be elected almost exclusively on the preferences of other parties, for example, where small parties with very different views have agreed to exchange preferences, or where larger parties have sought to minimise votes for opponents with similar views.

A notable case was the 1999 New South Wales state election when the Outdoor Recreation Party's Malcolm Jones was elected to the Legislative Council with a primary vote of 0.19%,[8] or 0.042 of a quota.

GVTs came under scrutiny at the 2013 Australian election for multiple candidates getting provisionally elected with the vast majority of the 14.3% quota being filled from preferences, with "preference whisperer" Glenn Druery's Minor Party Alliance organising tight cross-preferencing between minor parties.[9][10][11] Motoring's Ricky Muir won a senate seat on a record-low primary vote of 0.5% in Victoria[12][13] (previous record held by Family First's Steve Fielding in 2004 on 1.9% in Victoria).[14] The Sports Party's Wayne Dropulich was on track for a period of time to win a Senate seat from 0.2% in Western Australia, coming 21st out of 28 groups.[15][16][17] Family First's Bob Day won a seat on a primary vote of 3.8% in South Australia,[13][18] and the DLP's John Madigan won his seat in 2010 on a primary vote of 2.3% in Victoria.[19] Xenophon and larger parties including the government proposed changes to the GVT system.[20][21][22]

References

1. ^{{cite web |url=http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/2015/09/the-orogins-of-senate-group-ticket-voting-and-it-wasnt-the-major-parties.html |title=The Origin of Senate Group Ticket Voting, and it didn't come from the Major Parties |author=Antony Green |date=23 September 2015 |publisher=ABC |accessdate=20 March 2016}}
2. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/guide/glossary.htm |title=Glossary of Election Terms - Federal Election 2007 |publisher=ABC |date= |accessdate=2010-12-29}}
3. ^http://www.tallyroom.com.au/archive/sa2014/legcsa2014
4. ^http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/bill/crb1988520.pdf
5. ^Senate election reforms announced, including preferential voting above the line, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 22 February 2016
6. ^Electoral laws passed after marathon Parliament sitting: ABC 18 March 2016
7. ^New Electoral System Adopted for the South Australian Legislative Council: Antony Green ABC 9 August 2017
8. ^Antony Green (2009-06-16). Antony Green's Election Blog: NSW Legislative Council and its new electoral system. Retrieved on 2009-09-12.
9. ^Bitter dispute erupts over Senate preferences in Queensland: ABC 5 September 2013
10. ^Glen Druery - the 'preference whisperer': ABC 21 August 2013 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002051453/http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2013/08/glen-dreuery-the-preference-whisperer.html |date=2 October 2013 }}
11. ^[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/13/preference-whisperer-defends-minor-party-success 'Preference whisperer' defends role in minor parties’ Senate success: The Guardian 13 September 2013]
12. ^Victorian 2013 Senate results and preference flows: ABC
13. ^Motoring Enthusiasts Party member Ricky Muir wins Senate seat: ABC 1 October 2013
14. ^A ballot crammed with choice: SMH Tim Colebatch 5 August 2013
15. ^Western Australia 2013 Senate results and preference flows: ABC
16. ^The Preference Deals behind the Strange Election of Ricky Muir and Wayne Dropulich: Antony Green ABC 13 September 2013
17. ^Australian Sports Party 'pleasantly surprised' by potential Senate seat: ABC 9 September 2013
18. ^South Australia 2013 Senate results and preference flows: ABC
19. ^Single-issue groups set to take balance of power: Canberra Times 9 September 2013
20. ^Coalition shy of Senate majority: Business Spectator 9 September 2013
21. ^Tony Abbott fires a warning shot at micro parties in the Senate: WA Today 9 September 2013
22. ^Xenophon wants voting reform: NineMSN 9 September 2013

External links

  • {{cite web |author=Green, Antony |author-link=Antony Green |url=http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/2015/09/the-orogins-of-senate-group-ticket-voting-and-it-wasnt-the-major-parties.html |title=The Origin of Senate Group Ticket Voting, and it didn't come from the Major Parties |date=23 September 2015 |work=ABC News |location=Australia }}
{{Politics of Australia|state=autocollapse}}

2 : Political terminology in Australia|Electoral systems

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