Freudian antics on election day
Party scrutineers at Sydney polling booths tell some head-scratching stories of what people did with their ballots.
On one table alone in the Town Hall, ten papers sported drawings of male genitalia, some quite elaborate. Why that was such a popular choice is a question for psychologists.
Another Gen-Y first-time voter posted his papers into the crack of the cardboard booth.
In Pyrmont’s booth (total: 3100 voters) there were 70 invalid votes. Of these about 10 were funny or abusive but all the rest were votes lost because of incorrect numbering.
Many people voted informal because they put only a ‘1’ on the Lower House ballot which had clear instructions to number all the squares (although leaving one blank didn’t matter as the “intention was clear”). This mistake was frequent, the confusion not surprising as single numbering is permissible in State ballots and on the Senate paper, but not for Federal seats. This has led to calls for consistency in both state and federal polling.
Others have called for Civics to be taught in schools. Darlinghurst resident Eli Bischofer said this could be why she has found that people in her home country, Austria, were far more aware of democratic processes than Australians.
While the record numbers of informal votes this election has been interpreted as cynicism about politics, it seems clear that many mistakes were made through simple ignorance or inattention.
by Michael Gormly
