For some reason I was feeling anxious and the man handing out No cards was a bit odd and was repeating 'no, no, no' or 'pass, pass, pass' or something similar which was intimidating. Then when I said no thank-you he loudly complained that barely anyone was taking No cards. I wasn't going to take a Yes card either, as it's not like I needed to know how to vote, but took one in support after No man's behaviour.
Sorry to snip so much of Mili's post, but is it usual in Australian elections for people to hand out cards telling people how to vote?
Here even the signs advertising candidates or parties must be taken down 24 hours before election day and it's illegal to hand out anything telling someone how to vote, or anything about candidates or parties.
Sorry to snip so much of Mili's post, but is it usual in Australian elections for people to hand out cards telling people how to vote?
Yes, at an ordinary election, each party will have volunteers handing out how-to-vote leaflets. They can be very useful in completing the ballot paper for the Senate/upper house, where there can be large numbers of candidates. That really was not necessary for Saturday's referendum. Handing out the leaflets qualifies you to participate in the parties after voting has ceased and the ballot papers are being counted.
There was one bloke handing out “ how to vote no” leaflets @ Darlo Public on Saturday along with quite a mob for the “ how to vote yes”. I was able to thank both politely on the grounds that I’d made up my mind ( no further discussion needed)
Sorry to snip so much of Mili's post, but is it usual in Australian elections for people to hand out cards telling people how to vote?
Here even the signs advertising candidates or parties must be taken down 24 hours before election day and it's illegal to hand out anything telling someone how to vote, or anything about candidates or parties.
Yes, it's standard procedure and the parties will have organised rosters covering every polling booth. It's one of those things that puts parties at an advantage over independents who may have insufficient organised supporters. Those rostered will be invited for drinks after the booths have closed.
I just checked. In our electorate, the Yes vote recorded 46.6, but that does not disclose some finer detail. The Yes vote was significantly higher for those parts of the electorate close to the train line. Further away, in the sort of area where Mr Curly lives (lived?) it was much lower than near us. When you get even further away from the line, the drop was even more.
The seat of Bradfield which covers pretty much all of the upper north shore voted a clear yes. Given it’s one of the safest Liberal seats in the entire country it’s an indicator that this wasn’t about party lines.
We're in Bradfield, so I can't understand the different figure you give. Perhaps the 52% was of votes cast, while the 46.6 includes those eligible to vote but didn't (does that make sense?). Casual conversation in our little street was that most voted Yes. Certainly agree with your comment that you can't transfer the referendum figures to normal party voting.
We're in Bradfield, so I can't understand the different figure you give. Perhaps the 52% was of votes cast, while the 46.6 includes those eligible to vote but didn't (does that make sense?). Casual conversation in our little street was that most voted Yes. Certainly agree with your comment that you can't transfer the referendum figures to normal party voting.
The ABC says 52% I’ve not seen anything that differs from that.
Comments
Sorry to snip so much of Mili's post, but is it usual in Australian elections for people to hand out cards telling people how to vote?
Here even the signs advertising candidates or parties must be taken down 24 hours before election day and it's illegal to hand out anything telling someone how to vote, or anything about candidates or parties.
Yes, at an ordinary election, each party will have volunteers handing out how-to-vote leaflets. They can be very useful in completing the ballot paper for the Senate/upper house, where there can be large numbers of candidates. That really was not necessary for Saturday's referendum. Handing out the leaflets qualifies you to participate in the parties after voting has ceased and the ballot papers are being counted.
There was one bloke handing out “ how to vote no” leaflets @ Darlo Public on Saturday along with quite a mob for the “ how to vote yes”. I was able to thank both politely on the grounds that I’d made up my mind ( no further discussion needed)
Yes, it's standard procedure and the parties will have organised rosters covering every polling booth. It's one of those things that puts parties at an advantage over independents who may have insufficient organised supporters. Those rostered will be invited for drinks after the booths have closed.
The seat of Bradfield which covers pretty much all of the upper north shore voted a clear yes. Given it’s one of the safest Liberal seats in the entire country it’s an indicator that this wasn’t about party lines.
ETA the yes vote was 52% in Bradfield.
The ABC says 52% I’ve not seen anything that differs from that.