How to vote above the line for Upper House clarified

We at FSN have received concern that early voters for Saturday’s State election are being incompletely advised at Polling Stations by Electoral Commission staff something like “For the upper house, you can vote above the line, in which case you need to write the number 1 in one of the boxes in the top row, above the line, or you can vote below the line, by writing… etc.”

Credit Phil Hearing and Unsplash

What voters are NOT being told, we are advised – and this is the concern – is that voters may also write the numbers 2, 3, 4 etc after the 1, above the line. They are not limited just to writing 1.

There is no doubt that voters can place their preferences above the line in upper house voting, by writing 1,2,3,4, etc as they wish. They are not obliged to limit themselves to 1, although they can if they want to.

The Electoral Commission has directed us to their website, which is very clear in this regard –

How to Mark Your Legislative Council Ballot

For the Legislative Council ballot paper you have a choice. You can vote by marking your ballot paper either above the thick horizontal line or below the line, but not both.

Either: Above-the-line

If you choose to vote above-the-line, write the number ‘1’ in one of the squares to indicate your first preference according to the political party or group, of your choice. You have the option of showing further preferences numbering as many squares as you wish from ‘2’ onwards. Your preferences will be distributed exactly as you have chosen. Do not mark any squares below-the-line.

Or: Below-the-line

If you choose to vote below-the-line (candidate preference vote), write the numbers ‘1’ to ’20’ in the squares next to the candidates, in order of your preference. You have the option to mark further preferences if you want to, by writing more numbers in other squares, starting from number ’21’. You may fill in as many squares as you choose. Your preferences will be distributed exactly as you have chosen. Do not mark any squares above-the-line.

It might be a good idea for the Electoral Commission to double check their staff know the complete voting rules ASAP.

* By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ If you’d like to COMMENT on this or any of our stories, don’t hesitate to email our Editor.

~ WHILE YOU’RE HERE –