Page 1139 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 April 1994
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MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (12.13) Madam Speaker, I move Government amendment No. 45. It is as follows:
45. Page 69, line 11, proposed new paragraph 177(3)(b), omit the paragraph, substitute the following paragraphs:
"(b) no first preference is marked in a candidate square;
(ba) a first preference is marked in 2 or more candidate squares; or".
This is the amendment which has the intention of relaxing the formality criteria for ballot-papers to overcome some of the difficulties that were referred to, particularly by Mr Humphries, in some of the debate on this Bill, where voters had made a mistake, not marked enough numbers, or got them out of sequence and so on. The amendment provides for a ballot-paper with a minimum of a single first preference to be counted as a formal vote. Under the Bill as it stands, a ballot-paper must be marked with at least as many preferences as there are vacancies in the electorate for it to be formal. Of course, that will continue to be the instruction to voters. For example, in a five-member electorate the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 must be present, without omission or duplication, for a ballot-paper to be formal. Under this amendment a ballot-paper with a single number 1 would be formal. Any further preferences are therefore optional.
In keeping with the referendum options description sheet, as I said, the instructions on the ballot-paper will still instruct voters to put a minimum number of preferences for at least as many candidates as there are vacancies. This is desirable to maximise the number of ballot-papers that will have effect during the scrutiny of preferences, right through the count, and to minimise the number of ballot-papers that are exhausted because there is an insufficient number of preferences shown. The intent behind this amendment is to provide a safety net for those voters who fail to follow the instructions on the ballot-paper, but whose voting intention is nonetheless clear.
Proposed new section 291 makes it an offence to disseminate, or authorise to be disseminated, electoral matter, including a representation of a ballot-paper, or part of the ballot-paper, that is likely to induce an elector to mark his or her vote otherwise than in accordance with the directions on the ballot-paper. In other words, campaigners will not be able to distribute how-to-vote material that instructs voters to mark fewer preferences than for the number of vacancies in an electorate, even though, at the end of the day, such a vote might be counted as formal under this amendment. Again, I think it is desirable, Madam Speaker, to minimise the number of exhausted votes in the scrutiny. I commend the amendment to members. I think that it is a reasonable matter to take up. As a person who has scrutineered many times at different elections, I do consider that, where the voter's intention is clear, they have a right to have their vote counted, at least up until the point that they have made a mistake. That is the intention of this amendment.
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