How anti-gun parties stole your vote

• Secretary, CFCV


• 26 Jun 2015

If you voted “above the line” in the upper house at last year’s Victorian state election, chances are your vote went to an anti-gun party, like the Greens. We’re here to stop that from happening.

The number of small parties attracting a few hundred votes each, leaves a lot of small parcels of votes that can be vacuumed up.  Who gets those parcels of votes isn’t determined by voters, but people hired for that purpose. It’s called ‘preference harvesting’.

That’s how we’ve ended up in the dangerous position of five Greens being elected to the upper house.  It’s possible the vote you cast at November’s election helped them get up – even though you voted for someone else.

Your vote may not get the party you voted for elected, but it may cascade down the preference system and end up getting someone elected who you would never have knowingly supported.

In an effort to get elected, some parties will do preference deals that may surprise you. This excellent article by Antony Green from The Age explains more.

Unless you know where a party’s preferences are going, do not rely on them.

Avoiding this problem at state elections is simple. All you need to do is vote “below the line”, by numbering five boxes below the black line, in a similar way to casting your vote in the lower house.

You can still vote for a shooter friendly party. By numbering just five boxes below the line, you control where your vote goes, not someone else. It’ll take just one minute to do!

Unfortunately it’s more difficult to do this at federal elections. That’s because if you go “below the line” you need to number every box (at the last federal election, there were 95 below the line boxes on the Victorian ballot paper).

The next federal election is due next year. That’s where we can help you. We’ll be publishing information on how to vote, explaining where preferences will be going.

It’s the only way you can ensure your vote goes where you want it to.

Make sure you understand how your vote is counted.  The CFCV will continue giving detailed voting information.

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