Australian Electoral Systems: A Practice Test PDF

o Direct democracies allow citizens to make laws and govern themselves. Citizens do not choose representatives, They self-represent. Everyone who is qualified as a citizen is: Automatically entitled to a position (a seat) in the legislature...

o Direct democracies allow citizens to make laws and govern themselves. Citizens do not choose representatives, They self-represent. Everyone who is qualified as a citizen is: Automatically entitled to a position (a seat) in the legislature And can participate in debates and vote on proposed laws. Ancient Athens invented direct democracy. The city-state had a law making assembly called the Ekklesia. There were no Ekklesia elections because every citizen was a member. o Representative democracies enable citizens to participate in law making and governing Not all citizens do so directly. Citizens are not automatically entitled to a seat in their country’s legislature. Citizens are represented by a smaller number of citizens they choose to make laws and to govern on their behalf. Representative democracy made it necessary to invent a way to choose representatives. That invention was the electoral system. Australia was created as a representative democracy. Electoral systems have been used to choose representatives for state and Commonwealth parliaments since federation. o Secret ballot was invented in Australia Is used in every representative democracy today. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Australian ballot’. o Australia has one of the best electoral systems in the world today. The AEC is asked by emerging democracies to help them run their elections. o Parliament (Our Representative Assembly) Australians elect the Commonwealth Parliament directly. o There Are no direct elections for the Prime Minister and Cabinet. o Westminster conventions determines who forms government. The party that controls majority support in the lower house forms the executive government o The leader of this party becomes the Prime Minister. o There is no minimum time between elections. The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (the Constitution) limits the term of a parliament to three years. At least every three years Australians need to exercise their political right to vote in elections Each state/territory parliament has its own electoral laws. Western Australia (WA) has a fixed four-year parliamentary term. o WA governments are formed in the Legislative Assembly Follows Westminster convention. Federal and State governments are representative o They are formed by an elected and representative lower house (The people’s house AKA House of Representatives) o Parliamentary Representation (What The Constitution Says) Elections should be regular and frequent o Ensures parliament remains responsive to the will of the people and is accountable to electors. The Commonwealth Parliament is a fully democratic bicameral parliament. o Both houses are ‘directly chosen by the people’. There are different rules governing the nature of representation in each house o Section 24 of the Constitution specifies that members of the House of Representatives (MHRs) : Have maximum three-year terms. All 151 electorates must be re-elected every three years. MHRs represent people in electorates. Each state has electorates in proportion to its population o New South Wales (NSW) has the most (47) o Tasmania has the least (5) Section 7 of the Constitution: o Specifies that Senators have six-year terms o Half the Senate is elected alongside the House of Representatives every three years. This is called a Senate Rotation ensures the parliament retains ‘elders’ Who have experience of the last parliament Designed to provide continuity and stability in governance. Senate rotation came from the United States of America. o Calling an election Less than three years after the first sitting of a parliament the Prime Minister must;  o Advise the Governor-General to dissolve the House of Representatives. The Governor-General Issues writs for a general election. o Section 24 of the Constitution gives the Governor-General the power to carry out these legal formalities The real power to call an election rests with the Prime Minister. o The Governor in each respective state possesses the power to issue writs for Senate elections. On occasions when the two houses are deadlocked over legislation o the Prime Minister may advise the Governor-General to dissolve both houses. o The Governor-General uses powers specified in Section 57 of the Constitution. o House of Representatives (The people’s house) Has 151 representatives for 151 electorates around the country. o States with larger populations have more electorates than those with smaller populations. HoR represents the people equally o One representative for every 107,000 electors. o Equal representation makes this house a ‘popular chamber’ or people’s house Everyone’s vote has the same value. Equality of the political right to vote. o Each electorate elects one representative. They are single-member electorates. At a general election, all 151 seats are declared vacant. o Electoral contests take place in all 151 electorates. o Many candidates compete for each seat. o There are few qualifications for candidates. o Citizens only need to be eligible to be enrolled to vote to qualify to run in an election. Candidates come from: o Major parties The Liberal Party of Australia The Australian Labor Party o Minor parties The Australian Greens The Nationals Pauline Hanson’s One Nation o Micro parties The Justice Party The Central Alliance o Independents o Senate (The states’ house) The Senate has 76 representatives for eight electorates around Australia. o The Six states are electorates 12 representatives each. o Two mainland territories 2 Representatives each o Each state electorate has the same number of representatives no matter how large or small its population. The Senate is a ‘federal chamber’ because of the equal state representation. o All candidates contest the election within their state or territory. o Types of Representation Electors in electorates always retain the power to govern o Referred to as Popular Sovereignty. They temporarily delegate their sovereignty to elected representatives. Representatives may represent their electors (called constituents): Delegate representation o When Constituents present their values, concerns and interests to their representative who then re-presents them to parliament. o Delegate representatives have close links with their constituents. o They translate their constituents’ desires directly through law making. Their personal views do not count. Trustee representation When constituents entrust their representative’s judgment to represent their best interests in parliament. o They are less directly linked to their constituents. o They are less reliant on frequent communication with them to Discern the issues that matter or their opinions on the issues. Trustee representatives may rely on the commands of their own conscience rather than the dictates of constituents. Partisan representation  When representatives are members of disciplined political parties. o Acts in parliament according to the dictates of their party Not so much the directions of their constituents or their own conscience. o Partisan representation is justified The overwhelming majority of electors intentionally vote for candidates based on a candidate’s political party membership and not their personal attributes. o They expect their representatives to ‘toe the party line’. Mirror representation When a legislative chamber’s composition reflects the composition of the society it represents. o For Example: Parliament should reflect society’s composition in terms of; Gender Ethnicity Indigeneity Age and other types of diversity. o The Australian population is 49 per cent male and 51 per cent female. If the Parliament truly mirrored Australia, it would be 49 per cent male and 51 per cent female. o Electoral Systems Mechanisms for converting electors’ votes into seats in parliament. A way of choosing representatives to occupy elected positions in a legislative assembly o Some countries directly elect their executive Usually called a President (USA). Australia does not use a separate election to choose its executive government. o A single parliamentary election produces a parliament of representatives A majority of whom (according to Westminster convention) Choose the executive government Hold it accountable until the next election. Australians also elect local governments o For Example, shire councils, town councils and city governments. o Electorates Electorates are the basis of all electoral systems. o Also called electoral divisions. An electorate is a geographical area containing many citizens o They elect either one or several individuals to represent them in their representative legislature. They may also be multi-member electorates which elect more than one person to represent them. o Electoral Systems Are Critically Important A poorly designed electoral system will severely compromise the operating principles of a liberal democracy. o Undermines the principles of: Majority rule Equality of political rights Participation The political freedoms of citizens. Adoption of an electoral system is an important choice for a democratic country. o The choice will affect Democratic principles There are many different types of electoral systems. o Each one converts votes into seats differently. Different electoral systems result in different outcomes Some electoral systems are also fairer than others. o Fair Elections Fairness is the Most Critical aspect of an electoral system. Fairness in electoral systems applies to electors, candidates and political parties o All citizens must have a political right to vote o Electors must not be intimidated or pressured when voting o Electors’ voting power must be equal. o Nominations for candidates should be as open as possible This maximises political participation for citizens and political parties o Political parties must be treated equally. Fairness also necessitates upholding the democratic principles o A majority of votes must result in a majority of seats. o The rights of minorities must be respected. o No distortion or manipulation in the conversion of votes into seats should occur.  Elections must be frequent enough to allow electors to have a political choice and to hold representatives accountable through the ballot box. In Summary: o Produce effective and stable government Reflecting the freely expressed will of the majority (majority rule); o Provide accountability of representatives who have direct links to electors, Ensuring the parliament remains representative and responsible to electors Majority rule Participation o Be fair to electors, candidates and political parties Equality of political rights Participation o Represent society’s diversity in gender, age, ethnicity, social values and so on Equality of political right Political freedoms Participation. o An Ideal Electoral System: Each electoral system may emphasise different elements of the four essential criteria. Despite the diversity of electoral systems, no system yet devised can achieve all the essential criteria for fairness. o There is no ideal electoral system. Some systems are good at achieving: o Stable government and accountability. o While others are good at achieving fairness for participants and representing diversity. It is challenging for any system to achieve stable government and fairness for participants. o Accountability and diversity are also difficult to achieve in one system. To have an electoral system that is as close to the ideal as possible is to compromise between different types of electoral systems. o Australia achieves such an electoral compromise by using two different systems. An electoral compromise is achieved by using systems from each category. o Classifying Electoral Systems Majoritarian systems Based on single-member electorates and are very effective at achieving: o Majority rule o Strong representational links between elected members of parliament and their constituents. Proportional systems. Based on multi-member electorates and are very effective at producing: o Fairness for political parties o Representation of diversity. Fair electoral systems use complementary systems that are able to compensate for each other’s weaknesses. o Majoritarian Electoral Systems First Past The Post Also called plurality voting o The most straightforward electoral system. It's Key Features Include: A simple majority is needed to win (a plurality) Electors choose one candidate from amongst those on the ballot paper. Advantages FPP’s virtue is its simplicity. o Electors can easily cast a ballot. o It is quick and easy to count. o There are no complicated calculations to find out who won. FPP effectively creates majority rule because it amplifies the winner’s margin to produce an exaggerated majority in the parliament. o Exaggerated majority occurs because FPP gives the successful party a winner’s bonus. Winner’s bonus occurs because all single-member electoral systems have a ‘winner takes all’ bias. This occurs because there is only one seat to win in each electorate o If a candidate wins a plurality of votes, they win the electorate. Electors know who: o To hold responsible for the quality of representation they receive. o To delegate their interests to or who to entrust to act for their welfare. It is easier for the electorate to hold their representative accountable for the quality of the representation they deliver. Disadvantages FPP creates a two party system.  o There is one winner and one loser. o Minor parties rarely win seats in parliament. Typically, anyone who votes for a minor party wastes their vote. Vote wastage occurs when an elector’s vote does not contribute to electing a representative. o Such electors are unrepresented in the parliament. Their vote did not count. Vote splitting occurs when two or more similar political parties compete for the same electors. o A third party with less voter support might win because neither of the similar parties win enough votes on their own. The popular parties lose because they divide the vote between them. o Vote splitting is a grave flaw in FPP elections where there are more than two candidates. First Past The Post In Australia The first Commonwealth Parliament (in 1901) was elected using colonial electoral systems Two of the earliest Acts of the first parliament were: o The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 o The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1902 These established the electoral procedures for electing future parliaments. o FPP remained in use until The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 replaced both of the 1902 Acts. First Past The Post (Representation And The Commonwealth Parliament) The use of FPP to elect both houses was efficient and quick, o Resulted in strong majorities in both houses. o The Senate was usually dominated by the same political party that held the governing majority in the lower house. Occasionally it was controlled by the party in opposition. o A government dominated Senate meant the executive controlled both houses. These Senates tended to rubber stamp government legislation. Negotiation and consensus were hampered by the lack of alternative parties. o Scrutiny of bills and debate were ineffective. Government dominated senates were unable to effectively represent the states or act as a house of review. o Both its constitutional and Westminster roles were undermined by FPP. Opposition controlled Senates tended to be obstructionist. o The power of the Senate which is co-equal to that of the House of Representatives: gave the opposition tremendous power. Such power could be used to frustrate a government by rejecting its legislation and moving anti-government motions in the upper house. o Obstructionist senates undermined majority rule in the lower house. Preferential Voting Preferential voting (PV) is slightly more complicated than FPP o Still a simple electoral system with many of the advantages of FPP, Its key features are: an absolute majority is needed to win o ‘50 per cent plus one vote’ of the formal votes OR 50% + 1 Electors number candidates from most preferred down to least preferred When no candidate wins an absolute majority of primary votes o Preferences are distributed until a candidate achieves an absolute majority. Some PV systems require preferencing every candidate. o This is called exhaustive preferential voting because electors have to exhaust all the options. o The HoR uses exhaustive preferential voting. Others require the voter to number only as many candidates as they wish. o This is called optional preferential voting. Advantages: The requirement for an absolute majority enhances majority rule by ensuring a majority preferred candidate is elected. PV produces exaggerated majorities due to a winner’s bonus o Strong at producing majority rule if used to elect a lower house. Since electors can vote for alternative candidates, vote splitting is eliminated between related political parties. The requirement for an absolute majority reduces vote wastage. o No more than half the votes can ever be wasted. PV is a single-member system which promotes accountability. o Citizens can easily know their delegate or trustee o They know who: To hold responsible for the quality of representation they receive. To contact with their interests and issues. To reward for effective representation and who to punish at the next election if they are not satisfied.  Disadvantages: The need for electors to number candidates in order of preference is more demanding than merely choosing one candidate but not significantly so. PV does result in a higher number of informal votes by electors who have misunderstood how to vote o The rate of informal voting is still low. o Vote wastage number can be as high as 50 per cent less 1 vote. There can never be a majority of votes wasted which can happen under FPP. The winner’s bonus in PV is less extreme than in FPP o It still promotes overrepresentation of major political parties. o Prevents electors who vote for losing parties getting any representation in the legislature This is underrepresentation. o Smaller parties or candidates can trade their preferences to other candidates in return for some policy commitments from them. An even distribution of its supporters across many electorates benefits a party. o It may win more electorates by small margins. A party with many supporters concentrated in fewer seats is disadvantaged. o It will win fewer electorates by large margins. PV does not reflect society’s diversity very well. Two party representation resulting from all single-member systems excludes many parties. The ‘winner takes all’ nature of single-member systems results in parties selecting ‘conventional’ or ‘safe’ low risk candidates. o The result is the overrepresentation of white, middle class, tertiary educated males in parliament (conventional and safe candidates) Quotas for women have been used by the ALP to force the election of more Labor women to the House of Representatives. o The Liberal Party does not have quotas and had a much greater gender imbalance in 2018 Without interventions like quotas, single-member electoral systems are biased towards conventional and safe candidates. Preferential Voting In Australia Large majorities in the House of Representatives created stable governments that dominated the House. o Stable government is a positive outcome because the House of Representatives is the house of government A democratic government needs to embody the operating principle of majority rule. PV’s single-member electorates continued to create strong links between the people and their representatives A majority government is a firmly established characteristic of the Australian political system. o The Howard and Hawke/Keatings governments always enjoyed majorities. o The Gillard Government (2010–2013) was the first minority government in decades An event so rare in Australian history that the hung House of Representatives was unable to form a government for 17 days after the election. Absolute majorities in each electorate meant parliamentary representation more accurately reflected the preferred will of a majority of electors in the legislative branch of government. The House of Representatives, enhanced with absolute majorities behind every member, formed more representative executive governments Enhancing the principle of majority rule in the executive branch of government. There also was a small increase in fairness to minor parties because of opportunities to trade their preferences and make policy deals with major parties. o there was no way for a losing party to force a winning party to abide by a preference deal when in parliament. o Swapping second preferences is more like a promise than a contract. o Minor party voters may hold major parties to account at the next election if they break preference promises. o Proportional Representation Systems Proportional representation (PR) systems aim to reflect the proportion of the vote received by a political party as a proportion of seats gained in the parliament. o If a party received 30 per cent of the vote in an election, it would receive 30 per cent of the seats in the chamber. Majoritarian systems are high stakes ‘winner takes all’ systems Proportional systems are ‘get what you deserve’ systems. PR systems are much fairer to political parties than majoritarian systems. o Minor parties get seats in proportion to their electoral support and there are no winner’s bonuses for a successful party. The key to proportional electoral systems is their multi-member electorates. o Each PR electorate elects multiple candidates to parliament. o PR systems tend to elect more diverse chambers with a greater variety of parties and independents being represented. o PR systems are also better at representing society’s diversity. Single Transferable Vote Proportional Representation STV/PR is a complicated electoral system. o It has the following key features: A quota, rather than a majority of votes, is needed to win a seat There is one quota per seat to be filled and multiple quotas because there are multiple members to elect per electorate Electors rank candidates (below the line) or political parties (above the line) in order of preference When a candidate’s votes exceed a quota (that is, they receive surplus votes) All votes are distributed to other candidates according to electors’ preferences Happens at a reduced value (known as the transfer value) Preference distributions continue until the last quota fills the final seat.  o Candidates do not have to win either a simple majority or absolute majority. There are several quotas in each electorate o Which means that several candidates represent the same electorate. Hence the term, ‘multi-member’ electorate. Quotas are composed of far fewer votes than that of majorities. o 2016 federal election, a quota in Tasmania was approximately 20,000 while a quota in NSW was approximately 350,000. o The quota for NSW is equivalent to the total number of voters in Tasmania. By replacing a majority with a quota, STV/PR can elect candidates from different parties to the same electorate Which is impossible under single-member systems with only one representative per electorate. Advantages STV/PR is much fairer to electors, candidates, and political parties o All candidates and parties that can achieve a quota can win a seat. o Quotas are much lower than an absolute majority and even simple majorities. In a federal general election for the Senate in each state o A quota is equivalent to approximately 14.3 per cent of the formal votes. When a double dissolution election occurs and all twelve senators for a state are to be elected o This quota is effectively halved. This results in minor political parties being elected. Electors benefit in that their will is reflected in the election results. o A Senate elected this way more accurately mirrors the diversity of society. It helps achieve mirror representation. o STV/PR reduces the incentive for parties to pick ‘conventional’ or ‘safe’ candidates. Electors tend to vote for political parties rather than vote directly for individual candidates. o Most electors have no idea who the candidates are They focus on the party they want. Parties can nominate ‘diversity candidates’ with less fear of alienating segments of the voting public. Far more women get elected under STV proportional representation than preferential voting. STV/PR tends to produce a ‘hung’ Senate because there is no winner’s bonus to exaggerate a winner’s margin. o A hung house is one in which no party has a majority in its own right. o No party can control the procedures of a hung Senate or be guaranteed victory when voting on motions or bills. Compromises must be reached to achieve success in a hung Senate Hung Senates are much more likely to check and balance a government dominated lower house and the government itself. o Hung Senates can be powerful institutions for accountability. o The combination of mirror representation, diversity, and the need for compromise makes STV/PR chamber a good protector of rights and freedoms, especially for minority groups that may well have representation in the Senate. Disadvantages Electors find it almost impossible to understand how their votes are counted or how candidates are elected using STV/PR. o The reason is its complexity. Above the line voting drastically reduced the informal votes. Hung Senates produced by STV/PR can lead to an impasse in parliament if parties cannot achieve a compromise or reach consensus. In a system with strong bicameralism, such as Australia’s o The powerful upper house can block government bills transmitted from the lower house. A non-majority Senate blocking bills passed by a majority-controlled House of Representatives undermines the principle of majority rule. o The link between voter and representative is much weaker than in single-member systems such as FPP and PV Electors tend to vote for parties rather than individual candidates. Direct accountability is weaker because there are multiple representatives per electorate. o Few people know who their Senate representatives are. o Electors would struggle to answer questions such as “Who is my representative in the Senate?” “Who do I write to, or go and see about my issues?” “How do I know which representatives to reward or punish at the next election?” o Because of the difficulty answering such questions: STV/PR weakens direct representation and accountability. It makes delegate and trustee forms of representation almost unworkable in such a system. Single Transferable Vote Proportional Representation In Australia When STV/PR was first introduced, electors had to number every box on the ballot paper o They were required to make a ‘candidate vote’. Due to the size of the electorates and increasing numbers of parties and independents seeking election, the number of candidates rose. o According to the law, no errors in numbering the sequence of preferences were allowed.  o The result was many informal votes. Group Ticket Voting And 'Preference Whispering' Group tickets allowed parties to: o Pre-register a list of candidates (a party list) with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) before an election o Determine how the preferences of electors who vote for their political party would be allocated. Parties’ group tickets were publicly available so electors could research the distribution of each party’s preferences. o On the ballot paper: Electors had the option of choosing the party they preferred (rather than individual candidates) Numbering all the individual candidates. o If a voter chose a party instead of preferencing all the candidates The party controlled how their preferences were counted. o Above the line voting allowed electors to vote for a party by placing a ‘1’ in the box next to their preferred party. o Below the line voting allowed electors to vote by numbering all the candidates listed, as in the past. Below the line voting was much more complicated but it meant the elector controlled their preferences. Group ticket voting is more straightforward but has its problems. Above the line voting further weakened the already weak link between electors and representatives By obscuring the names and personalities of the candidates. Surrendering control over preferences to political parties permitted inter-party preference trading in complicated deals. o Electors often ended up contributing to the election of Senators they would have never chosen themselves. o At best, inter-party preference trading undermined the Australian upper house democracy. At worst, it corrupted it. o Reducing Party Control Over Preferences In 2016, the preference harvesting corruption of the STV/PR preference system was addressed. o Through the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Act 2016: Group ticket voting was abolished The way electors cast their vote was changed Party identification was improved. o Electors can still vote for political parties (above the line) or candidates (below the line) but political parties can no longer determine how electors’ preferences flow. o The 2016 electoral reform puts electors in command of their preferences Whether they vote above or below the line. In both above and below the line voting; o Electors can number more preferences than they are required to if they wish to ensure their vote is not exhausted in the count. o Above the line preferencing by electors replaced group ticket preferencing by parties. o Simplified below the line voting encourages more electors to vote for real people instead of parties The 2016 electoral reforms also led to the introduction of political party logos on ballot papers for the Senate and House of Representatives. o This was done to reduce elector confusion between political parties with similar names Such as the Liberal Party of Australia and the Liberal Democrats. o Calculating The Quotas Senate quotas are calculated mathematically using the following formula: o The number of formal ballot papers divided by the number of seats to be elected plus one (number of formal ballot papers/number of seats to be elected + 1) o Counting Votes o An elected candidate’s votes exceeding the quota are called surplus votes and are calculated as follows: o Total number of votes received by the candidate minus the quota required equals the number of surplus votes o Total number of votes — quota = surplus votes. Votes are secret, and an elected candidate’s votes ‘in the quota’ compared to those which are ‘surplus’ cannot be known. o Therefore, all of their votes are transferred, but at a reduced value called the transfer value. o The transfer value is calculated as follows: Surplus votes divided by total votes for the candidate equals the transfer value; Surplus votes / total votes = transfer value. The transfer value is a way of keeping all votes flowing according to electors’ preferences Once all candidates who have achieved a quota are elected o the process of: elimination of candidates: distribution of preferences transferring discounted surplus votes Continues until all quotas and seats are filled. o The candidate with the least votes is eliminated (after the transfer of surplus votes)  Their votes are distributed to remaining candidates according to electors’ preferences. o The Senate ‘Balance of Power' Crossbenchers are in a strong position to influence lawmaking and hold the government accountable o Because of the combination of Senate power and the STV/PR electoral system. o Crossbench balance of power enhances the Senate’s ability to check and balance the HoR and governments formed in that place. Ways in which governments can be accountable to a powerful ‘balance of power’ Senate: o Governments must persuade either the opposition or enough members of the crossbench to agree with its bills or motions before a government vote in the chamber can succeed o The opposition may persuade enough crossbench senators to vote against the government to defeat bills or motions With crossbench support, Oppositions may also force through motions to establish Senate inquiries into matters the government opposes These aspects of Senate power enhance the Senate’s ‘house of review’ role. o It can use its power to check executive dominance of the parliament. o Compulsory Voting A significant feature of Australia’s electoral system. o Successive amendments to the Electoral Act 1902 added further compulsory elements to encourage political participation. o In a rare example of a private member’s bill becoming law, The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1924 amended the Electoral Act 1902 by introducing compulsory voting for federal elections. The effect was a spectacular increase in voter turnout from 60 per cent in the 1922 election to 91 per cent at the 1925 election. Turnout has been very high ever since. Advantages Of Compulsory Voting vantages of compulsory voting are: o Increased voter turnout Resulting in increased political participation. o Increased education and understanding. (Citizens know more about their democracy) o Enhancement of the liberal democratic operating principle of majority rule. o Increased democratic legitimacy and authority of parliaments and governments. o Reduced electoral impact of extreme political ideologies. o A greater focus on issues and policy. The fundamental operating principles of a liberal democracy are all enhanced by compulsory voting. o Majority rule is better established if more people vote and there is an increase in political participation. Parliaments and governments can claim to be enacting the true democratic will of the majority if all eligible electors have cast a ballot. o This also means that governments have a stronger claim to legitimacy and authority when they try to persuade crossbench senators to pass their proposed laws. o A government’s claim to a ‘will of the majority mandate’ is stronger after an election in which people voted on specific policy promises. A significant benefit is the ‘drowning out effect’ compulsory voting can have on extreme political views. o Extreme views can be overrepresented in systems with voluntary voting. Australia has a less polarised political climate because Australian political parties must not only win their core voter base They must also win unconvinced swinging electors. Australian political parties that stray too far into the extremes of the political spectrum tend to get punished at elections. Another positive effect of compulsory voting is the enhanced quality of political debate. o Political parties do not have to spend resources trying to motivate supporters to turn out on election day. There is less focus on lightweight, commercial-style advertising. o Parties can rely on high turnout rates and devote more effort to winning policy arguments against their political opponents. o Disadvantages Of Compulsory Voting Politically uninterested or disengaged electors, who often cast donkey votes, may affect election outcomes. Increased informal votes. Because voting is a right, compelling people to vote is seen as wrong by libertarians. The creation of predictably ‘safe seats’, which parties may ignore knowing they will win them. A great focus on ‘marginal seats’, where elections are won and lost. Citizens of democracies generally do not like being told what to do by governments especially when it affects their rights. Forcing uninformed or uninterested electors to cast a ballot can result in high rates of informal votes. o It can result in donkey votes. A donkey vote is a randomly filled-in ballot paper Donkey votes are impossible to separate from formal votes Donkey votes are formal votes and are counted. They may affect the outcome in a close contest. Compulsory voting can make areas ‘safe seats’. o Safe seats are predictable and are very unlikely to be tightly fought electoral contests. o Parties may take them for granted or not bother running a candidate in a seat they know they cannot win. o These decisions reduce political choice for electors living in safe seats. o The Integrity Of Australian Elections The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) The best guarantee of electoral integrity is to remove the power to organise and run elections from those who benefit from elections.  Political parties and members of parliament are the beneficiaries of elections so they should have nothing to do with running them. The AEC is an independent statutory authority established by law. o The AEC’s role is “to deliver the franchise: that is, an Australian citizen’s right to vote, as established by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.” This Act gives the AEC powers to run all aspects of Australia’s electoral system. Each state has its own electoral commission. The AEC ensures fair elections by being entirely apolitical, independent, and disinterested in election outcomes. o It redistributes electorate divisions to maintain the equality of the political right to vote (one vote, one value) according to law. o It counts the votes and declares the winners. The AEC eliminated gerrymandering and other forms of electoral distortions and corruptions. o Malapportionment Equality of political rights is an operating principle of a liberal democracy. o The values of citizens’ votes must be equal. It means that the quantum (or amount) of voting power is the same. An electorate of 100,000 electors represented by one MP, electors have twice the voting power of those in an electorate of 200,000 represented by a single MP. There is a severe malapportionment of voting power in this simple example. Australia has very little malapportionment in HoR electorates within a state or territory. A redistribution will be triggered if more than one third of divisions in the state (or one in a territory) deviates from the average enrolment in the state or territory by more than plus or minus 10 per cent. There are a number of triggers that will cause the AEC to redistribute electorates. o If the last redistribution was more than seven years past: A state or territory becomes entitled to more or less representatives A state or territory’s electorates’ eligible population sizes changes beyond a certain threshold Then the AEC will redistribute electoral divisions within a state or territory. o It is difficult to manage territory electorates because of their small populations. The constitutional requirement for equal state representation conflicts with equality of political rights and the principle of one vote, one value. Malapportionment is a severe criticism of Senate representation o So much so that Prime Minister Paul Keating; Frustrated by the Senate’s refusal to pass government bills, famously derided the upper house as ‘unrepresentative swill’. o Some states’ upper houses, including the Western Australian Legislative Council have malapportionment similar to that in the Senate. o A 2005 reform removed the rural bias in Western Australian lower house elections. Australia does well to maximise the principle of ‘one vote, one value’. o Gerrymanders A gerrymander is a deliberate drawing of electoral boundaries to disadvantage a political party. o By concentrating the vote of an opposition party into fewer seats: A governing party can reduce its rival’s chances of winning a majority in the representative legislative chamber. Gerrymandering deliberately denies equality of political rights and undermines majority rule with the aim of maintaining the over-representation and power of a minority. Gerrymandering is common in US Congressional electorates and results in unfair electoral representation. o They use their law-making powers to disadvantage the other major party in federal elections.