The declining major party vote in Victoria
One of the major stories of the recent federal election was the share of the vote for the major parties (defined here as Labor, Liberal and Nationals), and how it has been declining for decades, with a big drop in 2022.
I decided to look...
Friends don’t let friends vote above the line in Victoria
If you're voting in the Victorian state election, you should vote below the line on your Legislative Council ballot paper. While the party how-to-votes will undoubtedly tell you to vote above the line, there is absolutely no reason why you need to do that.
Voting...
Group voting tickets – here we go again
I feel like I've been banging on about group voting tickets for a long time, but with the upcoming Victorian election again featuring this anti-democratic feature for its upper house elections, I thought I needed to summarise some of the worst problems with this...
Victoria 2022 – one more candidate update
I last updated my Victorian state election candidate list at the start of October, so it seemed about time for another update, about two weeks out from nominations closing.
You can see the full list here, and candidate lists including websites have been posted in...
Podcast #80: Papua New Guinea revisited
Ben is joined by Michael Kabuni to wrap up this year's Papua New Guinea election. We talk about levels of violence and election disruption, the highest number of seats for a single party for 40 years, and the formation of the new government.
This podcast...
South Australia’s tiny wards
South Australian voters are currently going to the polls to elect their local councillors for the next four years. Voting takes place by mail, with polls closing on November 10. Incidentally this means South Australian council elections should continue to closely mirror Tasmania's council...
Podcast #79: Tasmanian council elections preview
Ben is joined by Tasmanian psephologist Kevin Bonham to discuss the upcoming Tasmanian council elections - the electoral systems, the emergence of local tickets, and they then dive into the specific campaigns for Hobart City Council and Clarence City Council.
Check out Kevin's guides to...
NSW Labor preselection ballot reveals unusual electoral system
The NSW Labor conference was held over the weekend, and as part of the conference there was a ballot to choose the ticket for the NSW Legislative Council at next March's election.
Before this result, I didn't really know how this sort of thing worked....