Local government elections have just been held in Western Australia. There has been some debate about how the elections were run, so I’ll compare the electoral system with what occurs in Victoria.
Firstly, councils are generally smaller in Victoria, with just five to seven members in most cases compared with the 10 we have here. Mayors are not directly elected, which I think is not as democratic as the WA system.
The mayor embodies the council and voters should be able to cast their verdict on the council’s performance by expressing confidence or otherwise in the mayor.
Voting is compulsory in Victorian local government elections, raising the turnout to above 70 per cent. The proportional preferential system exists there as well. The difference with WA is that candidate preferences are distributed with their personal statements inside the ballot packs.
That makes sense with postal voting, because candidates don’t have a chance to hand their cards to electors arriving at the booth.
The WA system of non-compulsory preferential postal voting without allowing candidates to distribute their preferences is like being half pregnant.
I don’t support compulsory voting because it is fundamentally undemocratic, but I do think we need consistency in how elections are run across the three tiers of government.
I’m not a fan of postal voting. People are casting their votes at different stages of the campaign, meaning they have been exposed to different messages and influences depending on when they voted.
I do favor preferential voting. It allows like-minded candidates to support each other. There is no evidence that it leads to party politics in country areas.
My ideal system would be non-compulsory, preferential attendance voting.
