Australian federal election 2016

[maxque]

Jul 24, 2016 10:59:27 GMT East Anglian Lefty said:

Is letting voters vote at any polling station really a necessity (if you're away for work, couldn't you just get a postal)? Or does it just mean people don't bother checking where their designated polling station is?

They don't have a designated polling station. You are just expected to show up at one (and only one).
Before someone asks, yes, it allows to vote twice, but that's forecasted in law and in the majority is lower than the number of persons who voted twice (easy to find, they get marked on the register when they vote, so, if a name is marked twice in different offices, they know) election is rerun (and such cases are reported to the police, which can prosecute up to 6 months in jail).

[dizz]

ALP now 73 votes ahead in Herbert due to an error having been found.

www.abc.net.au/news/federal-election-2016/guide/herb/

Earlier in the day they were 12 votes behind.

[Sibboleth]

[Sibboleth]

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Labor lead in Herbert down to 41 votes at the end of the day. In not unconnected news Malcolm Turnbull visited Townsville on what looks like a campaign visit - are the LNP pinning their hopes on the Court annulling the result?

au.news.yahoo.com/a/32148198/labor-on-track-to-win-seat-of-herbert/#page1

[John Chanin]

Jul 24, 2016 10:59:27 GMT East Anglian Lefty said:

Is letting voters vote at any polling station really a necessity (if you're away for work, couldn't you just get a postal)? Or does it just mean people don't bother checking where their designated polling station is?

The point as I have posted elsewhere is that voting is compulsory in Australia.  People are called away from their home location on short notice all the time.  I'm sure you can think of examples in your own experience.  It is therefore the reponsibility of the authorities to ensure that everyone can cast their (compulsory) vote, and that means alllowing people to vote whwerever they happen to be.  As a supporter of compulsory voting perhaps I have a better grasp on the realitiea of it.

It really isn't the end of the world if it takes a few days to figure out the final totals of votes in each constituency.  The government will last for 3 years (in Australia - longer almost everywhere else). 

[andrewteale]

The Senate count in Tasmania has finished. On first preferences Labor and the Coalition had four quotas each with a quota each for the Greens and Jacqui Lambie; the final two seats went to the fifth Labor candidate and the second Green candidate, who finished just 141 votes ahead of One Nation. Labour senator Lisa Singh was re-elected on preferences despite being demoted to what should have been an unwinnable sixth on the Labor ticket.

[timrollpickering]

Tasmania is almost the only state where voters sometimes overturn the agreed party order(s) in the Senate - in the era of Group Voting Tickets the BTL voters sometimes neutralised the party deals. As the smallest state it usually has the fewest number of candidates standing, the use of STV for the state house gets the voters in the habit of preferencing, and because there are only five House seats it's possible for state media to cover them all and move deep into the Senate race in a way that you can't really in most mainland states.

[Andrew_S]

Strangely enough, the Labor Party are back in the lead with the two-party preferred count by around 32,000 votes:

vtr.aec.gov.au/HouseDefault-20499.htm

[Andrew_S]

Julia Baird — "We're sliding backwards with the lowest number of female MPs in a quarter of a century":

www.smh.com.au/comment/were-sliding-backwards-with-the-lowest-number-of-female-mps-in-a-quarter-of-a-century-20160714-gq5ikl.html

[john07]

And when can we expect the count to be completed?

Not far off a month now.

[Deleted]

Herbert result finally confirmed: Labor gain by 37 votes.

This confirms the HoR as Coalition 76, ALP 69, others 5.

[Andrew_S]

How many times has the winner of the 2PP vote lost the election?

[timrollpickering]

Conventionally five times since the war - 1954, 1961, 1969, 1990 and 1998. However the full distributions in seats settled before the final two (or where the final two were something different) weren't done until 1983 (technically 1984 but the previous year's papers were still in storage) and so some of these are estimates. One of the early elections had some Labor-Communist only contests but if a party declines to offer a candidate in a seat it throws away the chance to collect votes for that seat.

[The Bishop]

So I think 1990 is the only time it has happened to the centre right, the other four occasions it was the ALP losing out?

[iain]

Antony Green has tweeted that the Coalition will likely win the 2PP - it's missing the votes of 8 electorates, 7 of which will be safely Liberal:

Missing Barker, Grayndler, Grey, Indi, Maranoa, Mayo , New England, Warringah

[andrewteale]

The Western Australia Senate count is finished. On first preferences the Liberals had five seats, Labor three and the Greens one; the final three seats went to the fourth Labor candidate, One Nation and the second Green candidate, with the lead Nationals candidate as runner-up a long way behind. There is a question mark over whether the One Nation senator is disqualified (he has a conviction for larceny).

The Territories have also finished counting with no change to the usual 1 Labor/1 Liberal split. The Northern Territory count was finished in the first round.

[iain]

If the One Nation candidate is disqualified, his seat should just pass on to second on the list.

[Khunanup]

Aug 1, 2016 22:14:13 GMT iain said:

If the One Nation candidate is disqualified, his seat should just pass on to second on the list.

The Aussie senate is done by STV.

[iain]

Aug 2, 2016 11:49:32 GMT Khunanup said:

Aug 1, 2016 22:14:13 GMT iain said:

If the One Nation candidate is disqualified, his seat should just pass on to second on the list.

The Aussie senate is done by STV.

Yet there are lists, and what I wrote is correct.