ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE VOTING SYSTEMS
PREFERENTIAL VOTING
Advantages
Two-party system promotes stability 'Due to the process of elimination that occurs in
preferential voting, we are left with a 2-party system, which, in Australia,
are traditionally Liberal and Labor. Due to this, stability is ensured within
the House of Representatives, as we can be certain that it will be one of those
two popular parties. These parties are not very different when it comes down to
it, as both are rather central parties (although Liberal is a little more
right-wing), which means that the system is not changed too much within the
three year term that a party forms the government. This ensures much more
stability than other systems, such as in proportional voting where the quota is
much lower, meaning smaller parties may form government 2013 ELECTION: 90 (of 150) seats in House of Representatives were held by Liberal/National Party while Labour (ALP) held 55 (of 150) seats, not a lot of philosophical difference of core policies of both parties creates stability as there is little change to government policies à previous labour government replaced by Liberal/National Coalition
Allows minor parties to influence votes
with second preferences Even though preferential voting encourages
a 2-party system, even voters who may not entirely support Liberal or Labor are
still able to influence votes due to the preferences on each ballot paper. If
their chosen party is the party with the least amount of votes, then their
second preference will be used, allowing each voter to have a say in which
party they would most to least like to see in power, ensuring that Australia
upholds a representative democracy.
Disadvantages
Requires educated voters Not every voter will be fully informed
about the policies of every party on their ballot paper, meaning that decisions
made by the person casting a ballot may not actually reflect their opinion, and
instead could possibly reflect the name of the party, or even their place on
the ballot slip. This means that the House of Representatives may not
accurately represent Australia. 2013 ELECTION: 13,726,070 (93.23%) Turnout Nationally 811,143 Informal votes (5.1%) Increased chance of informal votes Although voting is compulsory, there are
some people who may not take the process seriously, leading to informal votes.
Due to a much longer process than First Past the Post or Proportional voting
(that is, if a ticket vote is used), some voters may not want to go through the
entire process, so they may not number certain boxes on the ballot sheet,
identify themselves, or even leave their slip blank, meaning that they are not
represented in the House of Representatives. Another informal vote is a ‘donkey
vote’, in which the candidate numbers their candidates 1-6 down the page – this
could be their actual preference, so the votes are counted, but it could lead
to a skewed result based on which party is put at the top of the ballot paper
and so forth.
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
Advantages Mirror representation Due to the lower quota to be fulfilled,
more independent parties may be elected, which results in a Senate that is much
more reflective of individuals, creating ‘mirror representation’. This ensures
that members of the Senate are much more likely to represent the states, and
allows for a fairer Senate that lives up to its name as the ‘state’s house’. 2013 ELECTION: There are 10 Greens party members in the Senate due to the quota of approx. 14.7% which is more easily achievable then 50% + 1 in the House of Reps, wherein there is only 1 greens party member. This means that the number of senators is closely reflective of what a portion of the community wants.
Balance of Power When it comes to decision making, the
current power in the Senate rests on a ‘balance of power’. This means that an independent
makes the final decision on whether or not a law should be passed, rather than
one of the major parties, as this could result in ‘rubber stamp’ or ‘hostile’
Senates, neither of which are beneficial to Australia. By using proportional
voting to allow this, the Senate allows for proper scrutiny of laws, which
benefits the people.
Disadvantages
Long & complicated Even with computer programs in place, the
counting of votes in the proportional voting system is a long and arduous
process. With aspects of preferential voting incorporated, such as ordered
preferences and the redistribution of votes, as well as differing transfer
values and sorting out formal and informal votes, the proportional voting
system takes a long time to process. This makes things very difficult for those
involved, and any complications could throw off the election process.
No absolute majority In a proportional system, the percentage of
voters needed to be elected is roughly around 14%, known as a quota, while in a
preferential system, the percentage needs to be 50% and one more vote. As the
quota is much lower for a proportional system, this results in no absolute
majority, meaning the system could end up rather unstable, and could allow for
‘rubber stamp’ or ‘hostile’ Senates. 2013 ELECTION: only need approximately 14.7% to win a seat, i.e. Ricky Muir from Motoring Enthusiasts Party won a seat in Senate when he in actuality represents approximately 0.002% of population