Why don’t some voters rank?

I just discovered several papers on the determinants of ballot invalidity (informal voting) in Australia. Two recent conversations prompted me to look for these. The overarching issue is whether an invalid ballot reflects confusion or protest voting. You can find the papers in my reference list. The answer seems to be: both but more of the latter, especially among young people dissatisfied with the party system.

Continue reading “Why don’t some voters rank?”

Ballot invalidity, Australian House of Representatives

This post updates a graphic I produced in June 2021. I have added data from the Australian Electoral Commission for 2018 and 2022, as well as a line indicating the adoption of compulsory voting.

Invalidity in recent years seems to hover around 5 percent. That figure is consistent with figures from research on the United States. Some of it is recent, and some of it is quite old.

Two potential explanations stand out: voter confusion and refusal to follow compulsory-ranking instructions (see especially p. 9 here).

Data for the graph are here. The data up to 2016 used to be available here.

Is “more voter education” the solution?

I have been mentioning this article a lot lately, so I figured I’d blog it. Here are some key excerpts:

More than one in 10 votes were ruled invalid in the multicultural seat of Fowler, raising serious questions about whether explanations of Australia’s compulsory preferential voting system are getting through.

Fowler, in Sydney’s south-west, has one of the highest non-English-speaking populations, many of whom have come to Australia as refugees from countries with very different political systems.

And:

She said the centre had just run a campaign, Civic Spotlight, that aimed to educate migrant communities about the voting system, but more needed to be done.

“The AEC, they are not doing enough to address it. They have resources online and they provide information in several languages but it’s not just about addressing community leaders, it needs to be one-on-one,” she said.

I recently referred to the AEC (Australian Electoral Commission) as one of “the sorts of agencies that like running STV elections.”