Voters urged: 'Double your vote' on October 9

September 28, 2004

"Many people who will vote on October 9 will waste their vote because they do not understand the preferential voting system", Lisa Macdonald, the Socialist Alliance candidate for Reid, said today. "This is especially the case for new migrants, who make up a large proportion of voters in Reid. In the last federal election, the Reid electorate had the second highest informal vote in Australia (over 11%)".

"The most common misunderstanding among voters is that if they vote 1 for a smaller party their vote will not help get the major party that they want to form the next government (Labor or Liberal) elected. This is not true", Macdonald said.

"Voters must number all the boxes on the House of Representatives ballot paper and under the preferential voting system, voting 1 for a smaller party such as the Socialist Alliance or the Greens will flow on to one or the other of the major parties and help one of them win government.

"In fact, voting 1 for the Socialist Alliance or another smaller party is double value because it lets the voter to send a clear message in support of the small party’s alternative policies, then if their candidate does not get elected, the vote will flow on at full value to the voter’s preferred major party. So the voter can help either Labor or Liberal win government, but whichever one is elected they will know that voters preferred the smaller party’s policies."

The Socialist Alliance is urging voters to double the political value of their vote by voting 1 Socialist Alliance then using their preferences to get rid of Howard and elect a Labor government.

For further comment, phone Lisa Macdonald on 0413 031 108 or 9687 5134.

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