There is a Principle Here

Paula Matthewson

Electoral reform needs to be about making the system more democratic.

At present you can vote, and manually allocate your desired preferences, only to have your preferences stollen and allocated to someone you would never vote for on a fit. This is undemocratic to say the least and in extreme need of reform. It amounts to a manipulation of the electoral system for the benefit of the major parties. Voters need to take back control of the system somehow.

Paula meanders about in this article talking about what effect everything has. That is all well and good (possibly a little bit overanalytical), but it's a smoke screen obscuring the main point of this discussion, which is that when a voter votes, the full expression of that vote, including stated preferences, should be allocated as the voter stated, not to anyone else.

If fulfilment of this principle has the effect of making the greens a mainstream party, or restricting the number of splinter parties in the Senate, or any other effect, that is how the system is supposed to work, as long as the defining principles of the system are followed.

The system as it stands is dysfunctional and needs to change. This article fails to point this out.