|
Jess & ALL
Tell ALL where and when the
exhausted votes are ever again considered.
Tony
Antony,
As you have supplied the extract from the Queensland
Electoral Act, I again bring to your attention that the Act does not give
anyone the Authority to remove exhausted ballots from the count. It
only states that,
(7) On the second count--
(a) the
candidate who has the fewest first preference votes must be
excluded; and
(b) each ballot paper recording a
first preference vote for that
candidate that is not exhausted must be
transferred
to the candidate next in the
order of the voter's preference; and
(it does not contiune saying that exhausted
ballot papers are to be removed from the count.)
(c) that ballot paper must be
counted as a vote for that candidate.
It does not state that the exhausted ballot paper
must be excluded from the count, just the candidate is excluded from
the count.
That is why preferences that are not exhausted are passed
to the remaining candidates according to the preference indicated on the
ballot.
An election win is based 50% plus 1 of 100% of formal
ballots not 92.1% of formal ballots as in the KAWANA seat where 8.8% of the
ballot papers have been removed from the ballot/count.
I can understand your confusion being so involved in the
Election Process, "that you can't see the forest for the
trees".
Regards Jess Perez
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, 02 March, 2001 1:05 PM
Subject: Re: Evidence of disenfranchisement, and real
chances to do far more than help Mr O'Shea
The following extract is
from the Queensland Electoral Act. You will note
that Section Nine
specifies that the majority of votes is defined as being
of those votes
remaining in the count.
As preferences can only be distributed to
continuing candidates, if a
ballot paper for an excluded candidate has no
preferences, it cannot be
transferred to a continuing candidate, and as
only continuing candidates
remain in the count, exhausted votes therefore
can't be seen as part of the
votes remaining in the count.
Antony
Green
ELECTORAL ACT 1992 - SECT 119
Official
counting of votes
119.(1) As soon as practicable after polling day,
the returning officer for
each electoral district must ensure that
the
commission's staff follow the procedures set out in this section.
(2) Firstly, the staff must--
(a)
open all ballot boxes in relation to the electoral district that
have not
previously been opened; and
(b) identify
all declaration envelopes and keep those in relation to
different
electoral districts in separate parcels;
and
(c) seal up each parcel of envelopes for an
electoral district other
than the returning officer's electoral district,
write
on each a description of its contents,
sign the description and permit
any scrutineers who wish to do so
to
countersign the description; and
(d) send the parcels to the returning
officer for the appropriate
electoral district.
(3) Secondly, the
staff must--
(a) open all sealed parcels of
ballot papers sent to the returning
officer under section 118; and
(b) arrange all formal ballot papers under
the names of the candidates
for the election by placing in a
separate
parcel all those on which a first
preference vote is indicated for the
same candidate; and
(c) count the first preference votes for
each candidate on all of the
formal ballot papers.
(4) Thirdly,
the staff must--
(a) open all ballot boxes
on hand in which ballot papers from
declaration envelopes have been
placed under
section 116(3); [67] and
(b) arrange all formal ballot papers under
the names of the candidates
for the election by placing in a
separate
parcel all those on which a first
preference vote is indicated for the
same candidate; and
(c) count the first preference votes for
each candidate on all of the
formal ballot papers and add the number
to
that obtained under subsection (3)(c); and
(d) reapply paragraphs (a) to (c) as more
envelopes are placed in
ballot boxes under section 116(3), until
there
are no more envelopes required to be
placed in ballot boxes under that
section.
(5) If, because of
final counting under subsection (4), a majority of the
first preference
votes is for 1 candidate, that candidate is
elected.
(6) If not,
then a second count must take place.
(7) On the second count--
(a) the candidate who has the fewest first
preference votes must be
excluded; and
(b) each ballot paper recording a first preference vote for
that
candidate that is not exhausted must be
transferred
to the candidate next in the order
of the voter's preference; and
(c) that
ballot paper must be counted as a vote for that candidate.
(8) If,
on the second count, a candidate has a majority of the votes
remaining in
the count, the candidate is elected.
(9) If not, the process of--
(a) excluding the candidate who has the
fewest votes; and
(b) transferring each
ballot paper of that candidate that is not
exhausted to the continuing
candidate next in the
order of the voter's
preference; and
(c) counting it to that
candidate as a vote;
must be repeated until 1 candidate has a
majority of the votes remaining in
the count.
(10) The candidate
who, under subsection (9), has a majority of the votes
remaining in the
count is elected.
(11) Despite subsections (7) and (9), the process
of transferring to a
continuing candidate each of the ballot papers that
is not
exhausted and counting it to the candidate as a vote must not be
repeated
if there is only 1-continuing candidate, but that
candidate
is elected.
(12) If, on any count at which the candidate with the
fewest number of
votes must be excluded, 2 or more candidates have
an
equal number of votes and that number is fewer than the number of
votes of
any other candidate--
(a) the
candidate who had the fewest number of votes at the last count
at which
the candidates did not have an
equal number of
votes must be excluded; or
(b) if the
candidates had an equal number of votes at all earlier
counts--the
candidate whose name is on a slip
chosen under
subsection (13) must be excluded.
(13) For the purposes of
subsection (12)(b), the returning officer must--
(a) write the names of the candidates who
have an equal number of
votes on similar slips of paper; and
(b) fold the slips to prevent the names
being seen; and
(c) place the slips in an
opaque container; and
(d) mix the slips;
and
(e) raise the container so that its
contents are not visible and
choose a slip at random.
(14) If, on
any count at which the candidate with the fewest number of
votes must be
excluded, 2 or more candidates have an
equal number of votes and the
candidates are the only continuing
candidates--
(a) the returning officer must refer the
matter to the commission,
which must refer it to the Court of
Disputed
Returns; and
(b) the court must determine the validity
of any disputed ballot
papers and recount all of the ballot papers
by
applying subsection-(3)(b) and (c) and
subsections (5) to (12); and
(c) if the
determination and recount results in a candidate being
elected--the court
must declare the candidate
elected; and
(d) if not--the court must order that a
fresh election be held.
(15) Subsection (14) does not affect the
jurisdiction of the court under
part 8 [68] in relation to the disputing
of an election.
|
