Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Ballot Me: Voting Begins in Earnest

The Victorian Electoral Commission begins posting ballot papers out today.  Ballot papers will be posted in three lots over the next three days with ballot papers to the housing estates delivered by hand. from past experiences many of the ballot papers delivered to the Housing Estatesare discarded or left lying around or open to misuse and abuse by those seeking to manipulate the vote by questionable means. (This is a problem with postal ballots in that there is no check or balance to ensure that the vote is sent in from the voters as intended.)

Most voters will send in their return vote within a day of receiving their ballot papers, others will wait until the last week. Their also is a large number of votes that arrive late.  Neighbouring municipalities are holding an attendance vote on Saturday October 27.  This creates a lot of confusion as the Melbourne ballot ends the day before. Voters who are use to voting on a Saturday and hear reports of other municipalities voting on the Saturday are caught out and their votes are discarded.  If they fail to return their vote they are subject to a fine.

This makes it some what limiting for the local communities that hold a town hall style meet the candidates meetings next week when many voters have already cast their ballot.

Our suggestion is to vote early.  Votes can be dropped off at the Town Hall or sent back via the return paid envelope.  Please remember to place your ballot in the inner envelope and sign the outer detachable flap.

More information on how-to-vote

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