WA Senate election

[marko_the_rat]

Please bear with me as I rant about the WA election. I promise I'll do a Mardi Gras report soon.

On current counting (43.5% counted so far), the anti-science Fluoride Free WA party has won a Senate seat in the WA Senate with 0.36% of the primary vote. When you look at the preference flows, it's obvious they achieved this by gaming the system and

Comments

[hendikins]

Somebody should give them a plaque... oh wait. :P

[schnee]

Just to play devil's advocate, though, isn't it the point of preferential voting that it's not just whoever gets the biggest share of the primary vote that wins?

Even if they had won a seat - if enough people indicated them as their second/third/... preference, then wouldn't this be the correct outcome, the party's political leanings nonwithstanding? All votes are valid expressions of a voter's will in preferential voting.

Otherwise you could just abolish all votes other than the primary and turn the whole thing back into a first-past-the-post system. Simpler, and it would keep small parties (like this one) from ever having a chance - but that's just why it's not a good system.

[hendikins]

This would relate to preference deals involving "above the line" votes. The voter votes for a single party, and the party/candidate they voted for directs the preferences rather than the vote simply exhausting.

Also: At the moment it's looking like 3x Labor, 2x Liberals, 1x Greens, so no micro parties.

[schnee]

OK - maybe I'm not understanding the exact system used here, then. I simply assumed that it was "voters indicate their order of preference of the parties/candidates". If it's the parties saying "in case we don't make it, assign our votes to ${OTHER_PARTY}", that's a very different case.

[marko_the_rat]

If the voters indicated their order of preference I would have no problem with it--in fact that's the system they introduced in the federal election and what I would like them to introduce in all the states (except Queensland of course).

[porsupah]

You might want to elaborate on the system being used, to better make your point.

I presume this bunch is some loony-tune single issue brigade against fluoridation of drinking water, à la General Ripper?

[marko_the_rat]

This rant was more for Australians who I hope would have more familiarity with the system being used. What I said to Schnee above might help you to make more sense of it.