Comments on: Dave by a bee’s foreskin?

By: David Coles

David Coles — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:40:57 +0000

It is about waiting until they arrive Niall. I think the rules provide that a vote that is post marked prior to 6.00pm on election day has to be included. There is a statutory period I think, about 10 days. Normally it doesn’t matter because the outstanding votes can’t affect the result.

By: Niall

Niall — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:38:10 +0000

Bowman is teetering. Surely a few postals and absentees can’t take this long to count?

By: David Coles

David Coles — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:57:01 +0000

The worry on Tuesday was 350 votes to come in from Iraq. They counted 1,600 yesterday and Hale dropped by 300. With any luck the Iraq votes have come in and done their business. The view I have had is that there are now a maximum of 1,000 votes left to count, and possibly less.

Dave could still win but it looks as if Damian will do it, possibly by less than 50.

By: JM

JM — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:41:58 +0000

As a looooong time scrutineer, this sounds extremely dodgy to me.

In the old days (pre pre-poll voting), the AEC officials counted every ballot paper issued and after the count did the following calculation:-

if ( ( Issued - ( Returned + Spoiled ) ) > WinningMargin ) then goto Byelection;

And they were/are very serious about it. In my experience they go through the rubbish bins to retrieve the (small number of) ballot papers where voters have dumped them along with their how-to-vote cards in order to prevent the byelection.

[As an aside they also include the extremely small number of "votes" where people who aren't on the rolls lodge an enrollment form on the day along with their vote - but that's a very esoteric story for another day.]

It’s my understanding that if we’re looking at any election where the number of missing ballot papers exceed the winning margin there *has* to be a byelection.

Does anyone know if the pre-poll voting practice has changed this rule?

By: Nicholas Gruen

Nicholas Gruen — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:31:37 +0000

The Senate is where most of the interest lies now. It’s not a done deal that the ALP will require all non Coalition Senators for a majority.

By: Ken Parish

Ken Parish — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:03:11 +0000

But one vote is much smaller than a bee’s dick. I didn’t change it out of a sudden attack of prudery.

By: David Rubie

David Rubie — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:57:47 +0000

Aw, Ken, I liked the original headline.