Ubuntu & the underdeveloped world

[Mary Gardiner]

On Mon, Dec 20, 2004, Eric Dunbar wrote:
> It essentially boils down to whether you feel your voice will be heard
> -- with "winner take all" (aka first-past-the-post; used in Canada, US
> and UK... maybe Australia)?)) anyone who doesn't vote for the winning
> candidate has essentially wasted their vote.

Not Australia [0]. Australia has preferential voting for the lower house and
single transferable vote[1] for the Senate (since there is more than one
position to filled). Aside from being one of the few systems using STV,
Australia is fairly uninteresting in these debates, because the
compulsory voting[2] makes the turnout stable at 94-97% or thereabouts,
so you have to resort to subtler measures of whether Australians feel
engaged in or well served by the electoral system.

-Mary

[0] Good sized list at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_past_the_post#Where_First_Past_the_Post_systems_are_used
though

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Transferable_Vote

[2] Standard FAQ: resident citizens aged 18 and over are required to put
their names on the electoral roll; they check you off against the roll
when you vote; they enforce this by a system of fines; and if you're
overseas or otherwise have a serious excuse for not being able to attend
a polling booth, you do not have to pay the fine.