I've always question this - in a so called democratic country, I strongly believe that voting should not be compulsory but voluntary. How can a country call itself "democratic" if people do not have a choice of whether they want to vote or not? It's pure stupidity however that there is actually a percentage of the population of Australian citizens who are eligible to vote over the age of 18 that have never voted in their lives - how can this be possible given that voting is compulsory for all Australians over the age of 18? I'll answer that :
1. In order to vote you have to register yourself to vote once you turn 18 with the appropriate electorial comission. So if you never register you never have to vote therefore you will never be fined for not voting therefore technically you have not commited a criminal offence for failing to vote. Hope this makes sense hence technically voting is not actually compulsory for all Australians over the age of 18.
2. I mentioned registering with the appropriate electorial comission to vote, there is more then one electorial commission in Australia and the organisations responsible for registering new eligible voters are not related. The Australian Electorial Comission looks after the Federal elections and electoral roll but the NSW or appropriate state Electorial Commission looks after the state and possibly local elections and electorial rolls. Therefore if you are only enrolled to vote at the state or local level you can actually escape compulsory voting at the Federal level. Hope this stupidity also makes sense however you are less likely to escape voting at all elections if you are registered to vote with the AEC ie Federal elections as information is apparently filtered back downwards to the state and local electorial comission from the Australian Electorial Comission but not the other way round. Confused just think left hand doesn't know what right hand is doing!
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| Disclaimer : The above is an example of a real Senate Ballot Paper submitted by a real voter at the 2016 Federal Elections NOTE : ALL PARTIES AND CANDIDATE NAMES HAVE BEEN BLURRED OUT FOR CONFIDENTIALITY REASONS AND THERE IS NO VOTER IDENTIFICATION. Whether or not the above vote is considered formal or informal will be up to the Electorial Commission. It was argued initially that the vote was informal - made invalid due to the comment written on it and therefore not counted however if the voter has actually numbered perferences correctly above the line or below the line ie 6 above or 12 or more below the line then the vote is actually formal and therefore vote will be counted. If the ballot paper is blank apart from the comment written on it then it is informal or a so called "donkey" vote and therefore vote will also not be counted. Agree or Disagree? |
Getting back to why I don't believe voting should be compulsory in a democratic country - does compulsory voting cause a bias? If people are forced to vote they will either vote 2 ways informal or formal. If voting was not compulsory - there would be a more visible immediate reaction by voters ie voters maybe more likely to take voting more seriously for example 2 major political parties are running - their campaign runs for months perhaps years even - they finally call an election - if people are disinterested, unsatisfied or disillusioned by either party or the current poltitical party and have no alternative choice of poltical party, people will not vote and the same would apply if there was strong support for a particular political party a larger proportion or number of people would vote ie voting will be taken more seriously. No need to waste time sorting and counting all the informal or what is termed "donkey" votes made by compulsory voters which are already invalid votes. Choice is good - it may be a right to vote but the right to vote should be by choice.
Working at the elections is a paid position and contrary to what people think is not a voulnteer position in Australia. However accepting a position to work at the elections should not be based on remuneration alone. It takes a certain type of person to work at the elections particularly on polling day at the Federal elections.
In some countries working at an election is considered a respected position, in others it is voluntary. In Australia to apply to work at an election you must not only be an Australian citizen but be enrolled to vote ie on the electorial roll or "certified list" and eligible to vote. The next process is to put forward online your "expression of interest" to work at the elections. This is your application form. In this application it is made quite clear that this does not guarantee you employment at the elections and is based on the merits of your application. Then you wait for a response. I believe the earlier you put forward your "expression of interest" the better. I often do this over a year in advance when I know an election is due in the following year. Online expressions of interests have to be resubmitted/updated every 3-4 years. You get an email indicating that you have been offered a position at a particular location. You then accept or decline the offer online and update or add your personal banking tax and super details as you would with any other position you gain.
Next step is online training, passing of assessments and then final face to face training session to attend. This only applies to middle to upper positions during the elections for example Declaration and Information Officers DVIOs (me included), Polling place 2ICs, Officers in Charge OICs etc. My complaint about training both online and face to face is always the time wastage - for online training its always about the technical glitches and for face to face training its always about the inconvenience of not having a choice of when you can attend the face to face training session which by the way are all compulsory - as previously mentioned , don't complete all 3 and you will find yourself receiving a phone call from the electorial comission advising you that you will be unable to work during the elections . Face to face training is good at informing about the procedure of issuing votes other then ordinary votes but there is never any training given about post vote issuing ie the count and reconciliation of votes after close of polling @ 6 pm and issues such as what to do if ........problem occurs etc. For example running out of ballot papers to be issued at polling places use and split of open ballot papers and lack of supply of electronic devices to search and check for enrolment details of voters. Surely these are of major importance on polling day at a federal election.
You may be wondering why I apply to work at the elections. Some of the skills experience and qualities it takes to work at the elections are as follows :
1. Experience and an experience - like quite a few people who work at the elections I am a serial offender - having worked at the past 3 state elections and now 4 federal elections as a DVIO only. I have never been an EO and was offered this position at a local election which I declined. I was also overlooked at the last state elections for a DVIO position but was offered an EO position which I also declined then offered a DVIO position which I accepted at a smaller polling place and also a 2IC position which I also declined. This election I not only worked with the same polling manager again from previous elections but also 2 other serial DVIOs. We also had in between us 2 newbies. Previous experience is a real advantage.
2. Customer service and people skills - these are extremely important qualities and skills to have whilst working at the elections. Don't bother applying for a position at any election if you do not have these qualities. I love interacting with people and it's always been me. That's why I love working in retail and customer service roles. You need to be able to communicate not just with voters but with your fellow work collegues at the elections. You need to have the confidence to deal with a very diverse range of people from different cutural backgrounds and often not speaking English as their first language and put people at ease if a problem occurs. On the positive you get to meet a lot of interesting people and many who appreciate your assistance. On the negative there are always voters with complaints, are just grumpy or very difficult voters or the I just don't understand voters - the "but why" voters . By the way a 1 kg container filled with mixed jellies or lollies really helps - I always supply this at every election sitting on my declaration voting table - work collegues love it and it really makes voters waiting in line happy when they help thenselves to one or two - maybe come back for seconds! I hope this is not stated in the terms and conditions of my employment as a "no no" due to public liability!
3. Stamina - working on polling day at any election you have to be prepared not only mentally but physically - it can be a very long day depending on the number of voters that pass through a polling place and its size as well as the number of polling place staff allocated at a particular polling place. There is a constant stream of people with various forms of inquiries and voting opens at 8 am and closes at 6 pm however the day starts with a briefing and administration preparation at 7 am and post vote counting sorting and reconcilliation can continue past 11 pm. I estimated a finishing time of 11 pm for the polling place I was at and I was spot on - a 16 hour day! I did not get to go on a break until 5.30 pm when I had to shut down my station as I had absolutely no stationery left to issue ie I ran out of ballot papers. Prevoting was a good idea as I would not have had time to vote myself on polling day! The line for Declaration and Information voting was longer then the Ordinary voting line all day.
4. Mathamatically and Analytically Minded - This Federal election, to my great frustration (and voters unsure of whether they were enrolled to vote and/in what electorate), was the non existance of hand held electronic devices or tablets in order to perform database searches to put voters at ease - therefore being tech savvy was not a requirement however one skill that I have from my Accounting background and found really helpful was the ability to count and reconcile as well as being able to problem solve and instruct/organise others to follow. Speed, accuracy, attention to detail and the ability to be systematic (organised) with your work are also important as there is the constant completion of declation voting envelopes, electorial division cross referencing, checking, filing, sorting, counting and reconciling of ballot papers - all done manually. Minimum mathematical requirements would be the ability to add and subtract in addition to being fluent in the English language ie read write speak and understand for communication purposes with voters and work collegues. Ability to use a BYO calculator an advantage. It was all about being able to reconcile the number of unused House of Representaive ballot papers against number of House of Representative ballot papers issued to voters balancing to the number of counterfoils filed and doing the same for the Senate ballot papers ( except in more detail for each division for The House of Representatives ballot papers). Then transferring totals to an amalgamated tally sheet. Being issued bundles of 100 Senate ballot papers did not necessarily mean there were 100 Senate ballot papers in the bundle - we counted each issue - some bundles I had contained 99 and some 101, we did the same with bundles of 5 for House of Representatives ballot papers. It took me a while to balance final totals as my calculator had a 20 digit limit therefore kept giving me an incorrect total each time therefore in the end I manually reconciled everything using solely my brain power!
5. Be Politically Neutral and Confidentiality - When we apply for a position at the elections and when we accept a position at the elections, there are several forms with terms and conditions of employment we are required to print, date, sign, inital, have witnessed and return. At training we are also warned about being politically neutral and what information we post on social media - hence the delay in my posting and disclaimer. Now that I have completed my casual employment with the AEC I can probably deem it safe to post my 'views' . If I offend anyone by writing what I have written and posted, it can no longer result in termination of my employment but there is a chance that I may not be offered another position in the future - not particularly worried - 1 days work every 4 years is hardly significant. It's convenient that I dislike politics and have never had an interest in it whether on a local state or federal level. During a 6 week stint at Parliament House in the Finance Department many years ago, my American work collegue had to explain every political process to me - I remember her explaining the simplest thing like what crossing the floor involved - in one ear out the other - I was never interested.
I have to admit however many many years ago long before I started working at the elections I did volunteer and help out a Labor Party friend of mine giving out "how to vote" leaflets for a local election - far far away from my enrolled electorate/division. This does not mean I am a Labor supporter by any means.
Voter Complaints on Polling Day
1. Long queues and waiting times
2. Interstate voting issues
3. Lack of being able to check enrollment details
4. Shortage of ballot papers and being told to go to the next closest polling place to vote too close to closing time - they didn't want the risk of being fined for not voting.
5. No priority voting queue for elderly and special needs voters
6. House of Representatives Ballot Paper too large with too many candidates and parties - new how to vote instructions too confusing - 6 above the line 12 or more below the line
Polling Place Employee Complaints on Polling Day
1. No electronic handheld devices or tablets with "certified list" of voters to check enrolment details to put voters at ease - really frustrating and which I bought up at the face to face traing session - COME ON AEC GET WITH THE TIMES THIS IS NOT THE 1970S !!!!!!
2. Shortage of ballot papers - don't advise voters to go to the next closest poliing place when they have no chance of getting there in 10 minutes before close of voting.
3. Missing stationery supplies- are they serious? Was this part of a cost cutting exercise? You can't do your job properly if you don't have the stationey required
4. No priorty voting queue - staff should not have to queue up in their break to vote - no time
5. Antiquated forms - old forms used for new counting procedures which did not work - no blank ballot papers split on forms into number of different divisions and old stationery no longer required due to change in counting procedures.
6. How to vote instructions above and below the line too confusing.
7. Voters losing ballot papers or placing them in wrong boxes - spoilt are OK discarded are not
8. Slot in dec vote boxes presealed being too narrow to fit envelopes in - no lost rings or mobile phones in ballot boxes this year!!!!!
I'm sure there are many more but the above are just a few.
Best Voter Comment On A How To Vote
A French guy advises me to pass this feedback on - Senate Ballot paper far to large with too many candidates/parties
In his country ie France voting is very simple
2 choices only tick one of them
You like the person/party
Or
You don't like the person/party
None of this 6 above the line 12 or more below the line!
Agree!
The Federal Election Results - TBA - None To Date
One week after the elections - with counting delayed due to postal reasons - the counting continues and so do negotiations with minor "parties" - Australia still has a "HUNG PARLIAMENT" ie very close election where neither of the 2 major political parties have enough seats to form new government. For the latest information refer AEC website under "tally room". Forget "BREXIT" how about "AUSEXIT"!
Rating for this Federal Election overall : 4/10
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