Informal Senate Votes

 I post on this website my informal votes cast for the Senate in July 2016 and in May 2019. When I tell people of my having deliberately voted informally the reaction is usually one of shock. My answer is that a Senate vote in the ACT is worthless because, de facto, each machine of two big parties appoints a senator and the voters merely rubber stamp those appointments.

To such a statement I am told that my local member (in the Division of Canberra) is effectively appointed by the Labor Party’s machine so why do I continue to cast a formal vote for the House of Representatives? The answer I give is that the act of casting a formal vote is the act of expressing approval of the system and of the ballot paper given to me as a voter. I have no objection to the electoral system for the House of Representatives. Nor do I object to the honest ballot paper given to me by the polling official. Therefore, I cast a formal vote.

By contrast I have every objection to the Senate voting system. It is dishonest and manipulative. The instructions are deceitful. The only useful opinion I can cast was expressed by me in my informal votes under this present outlandish system.