Yes, Grandma C was again working in the Elections. Since retirement some 14 years ago, Grandma C has worked at all State and Federal elections.
A few days before the election she had to transport home the papers for her station and do the preparatory work like counting them and making sure she had enough of them, and goodness knows what else.
These sealed boxes had to be opened for counting by Grandma C in front of a witness (yours truly), and then re-sealed by her.
These long boxes ...
I took pics of his postal ballot paper as I thought that my overseas friends may find some of these parties interesting.
Interesting! They take them home to count there? Here, everything at the counting centre but these days, they count at the polling centre and they will total the totals at the counting centre. If there is a request for a recount, they will have to do it all over again and in the past, there had been cases where they would count again and again till the wee hours of the morning the next day!
ReplyDeleteNo - Sorry, I didn't make it clear enough. The counting at home was prior to the election- to ensure she has enough supplies. The actual counting of votes was done, of course, at the polling station, under the supervision of scrutineers. Her station did not finish counting till about 1 am, and then the votes have to be delivered to the collection centres and she got home about 2:30 am.
DeleteShudders!!! That was why when I was still working, I would never volunteer for the job - here, they always recruit teachers for those.
DeleteMy sentiments exactly! And I didn't mention that she left home at 5am to start work!! Then worked all day and all night till 2:30am!!! Not for me!!
DeleteWe voted prepoll before we left for London. The booth wasn't wide enough for the Senate ballot paper. It was like voting on a Roman scroll.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely right about the booth being not wide enough! I had to rock 'n roll my ballot paper.
DeleteWhat kind of voting is that - choosing 6 or 12 candidates?? How is the winner determined?
ReplyDeleteAn explanstion of the counting can be found here: http://www.aec.gov.au/voting/counting/senate_count.htm. And also here: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/08/14/explainer-what-preferential-voting
DeleteComplicato! This kind of voting system can, in principle, produce strange results. Suppose there are 3 candidates A, B, C and 6 voters who cast their votes as follows:
Delete(1,2,3), (3,1,2), (2,3,1), (1,3,2), (3,2,1), (2,1,3),
where (x,y,z) means A, B, C are ranked x, y, z respectively.
That means in the primary votes, each of the candidates A, B, C gets 2 votes. Therefore we cannot eliminate any of the candidates for the second counting. The system is in a deadlock!
In principle, it is possible to have a scenario in which there are 6 candidates and 720 voters choose 6 preferentially in such a way that all the 6 candidates get the same number of primary votes. Deadlock!
haha, I'll take your word for it, Prof. Maybe one day it'll actually happen and we can have a good laugh.
DeleteThe artificial example I gave is even stranger. Each of A, B, C has the same number of level-2 and level-3 votes. It's a gridlock, a nightmare! Ha ha ... The chances of this case happening is very small if everyone votes randomly, but probably not that small since supporters exist. Of course, in actual practice, a deadlock in even the primary votes is unlikely because of the large number of voters. BTW can a voter choose less than the stipulated number (6 or 12) of preferences? Is it a considered a spoilt vote if he/she does?
DeleteThe 6 or 12 stipulated figures are the minimum required. I'd imagine vote any less, then it'd be a spoilt vote.
DeleteI think I don't understand the ozzie voting system, even after KM sent me an email to explain it. Must be a sign of age catching up with me. I seem to interpret "preferential votes" in a different way. Thanks anyway for a "down-under" view of voting.
DeleteYk'S example can apply to any election system.
ReplyDeleteKM, you are quite right. I was trying to say that the "preferential" voting system can also produce a gridlock like the normal voting system - assuming that I had interpreted the "preferential" voting system correctly. Thanks for trying to educate an ignoramus on this unusual ozzie system.
Delete