Donkey Vote - The Australian House of Representatives

The Australian House of Representatives

Preferential voting for a single seat is used in elections for the Federal House of Representatives (since 1918), for all mainland State lower houses, and for the Northern Territory's Legislative Assembly. It was also used for the Legislative Councils (State upper houses) of Western Australia until 1986, and of Victoria until 2006. It is still used for the Tasmanian Legislative Council. A variant was used for the South Australian State Upper House before 1973, with two seats per "province" (electoral district) being filled at each election, but by majority-preferential voting, not by proportional representation.

The donkey vote became established with the introduction of compulsory voting in 1924. As some voters came out to vote only to avoid a fine, some sought to vote in this manner because of apathy.

An example of a hypothetical donkey vote cast at the 2004 Australian House of Representatives might be.

Division of Gwydir

1. Anderson, John National Party of Australia
2. Sims, Glenn Richard Australian Labor Party
3. Anderson, Michael John The Greens
4. Stringer, Richard Citizens Electoral Council
5. Rogers, Colin One Nation Party
6. Haigh, Bruce Independent

This is likely to be a donkey vote because the National Party would have issued a how-to-vote card suggesting that voters place the Labor candidate second last behind the One Nation candidate. It is also unlikely that a National Party voter would give second and third preference to Labor and the Greens.

On the other hand, in some electorates, it is possible to cast a donkey vote consistent with ideological preference or party instruction. For example, in the 2004 election in the Division of Grayndler, it would be possible for a donkey voter to cast this vote:

Division of Grayndler

1. Myers, Philip The Greens
2. Johnson, Sue Socialist Alliance
3. Harrison, Jen The Australian Democrats
4. Albanese, Anthony Australian Labor Party
5. Kokkolis, Stephanie Liberal Party

Such a vote would be consistent with ideological inclination, and were in fact the instructions on the Green how-to-vote card.

The donkey vote has been estimated at between 1 and 2% of the vote, which could be critical in a marginal seat. In 1984, reforms were made to Federal electoral legislation to reduce the impact of donkey voting including:

• listing of party names besides each candidate (as for the example above for the Divisions of Gwydir and Grayndler);

• drawing of order on the ballot paper by lot by the Australian Electoral Commission returning officer after the close of nominations and the commencement of pre-poll voting - candidates were previously listed by alphabetical order leading to parties nominating candidates with names beginning with A.

These reforms as well as an increase in electoral education funding have reduced the impact of donkey voting in Federal elections in recent years. As states have introduced similar reforms, the phenomenon has also been reduced in other jurisdictions. However, the phenomenon of donkey voting still needs to be taken into account when assessing the size of the swing or two-party vote in particular electorates.