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Can a Party Give MY Preferences to Another Party? The Myth Debunked!

Question: Where are One Nation’s preferences going this election? Answer: Wherever YOU out them!

A great thread below from @actualAlexJames (X) explaining how preferences work. In short, mark One Nation 1 and then decide where you want your preferences to go.

Transcript

I must have heard it a hundred times now “Don’t vote for One Nation because they give their preferences to Labor!” or “watch out who you vote for, Katters gave their preferences to such and such!”. This is a myth and is simply untrue. Let me explain why.

As we all know Australian voting is not the typical first past the post voting style that a stereotypical democracy would have, instead, we have a preferential voting system. This means that in Australia, an elected official is not decided simply by getting more votes than the others in a typical sense. Instead, it’s a form of instant runoff voting.

You have to number each candidate based on how much you would prefer them to be in office. Imagining that there are only three choices, If you vote 1 for PHON, then 2 for LNP, then 3 for labor, that would mean that if the LNP and the labor candidate received more votes than the PHON candidate, then your vote will be redistributed to LNP. By the end of the election. Your vote will have been a vote for LNP. Add in more candidates and the process is the same until it is between only two candidates to decide the winner.

Therefore, your vote will end up exactly where you decided for it to go based off of the total votes of your electorate. But in the end, you decided possibilities of where your vote actually goes.

“But One Nation gave their preferences to Labor last election!”

This type of statement is just blatantly untrue, but here’s why people fall for this idea. I read an article sent to me by someone who was trying to convince me of this and it helped me to understand where this myth comes from. Essentially what it boils down to is media misrepresentation. Which by the way, is another reason why the misinformation disinformation bill, which would allow for this misinformation to continue, is so incredibly dangerous.

The media article essentially used wordplay to paint the picture that One Nation gave their preferences to labor. As in your vote. What actually happened, at least sneakily implied by this article, is One Nation put labor above LNP on their “how to vote card”. This is a card that is given to pretty much every voter at the voting booths where the volunteers are. Usually, people chuck this out because they are annoyed that they have to vote.

This card is the representation of what that party giving you the card would prefer you to vote for. It is a recommendation only. One Nation “preferencing” labor in that electorate would have been a form of strategy used because they had high reservations when it came to the LNP candidate. Essentially the LNP candidate would have been seen by One Nation in that area at that time as being worse than the Labor one for their interests.

They did not actually give Labor any votes.

They did not send your vote to Labor.

They would have only recommended that their supporters preference labor higher than usual in that area. Only the voter has control over that, you don’t have to listen to them, you don’t have to follow a “how to vote card”.

All votes are decided by the voter. NOT by any party. Your vote will end up where it does based on your numbering decisions.

Politics is a ruthless game. And politicians, parties, the government, the media, and influencers will strategize according to their own interests in order to get the outcome they want. This is not always as simple as a politician wanting to get elected. It may even mean running a candidate that they don’t want elected in a certain area in order to lessen or strengthen another for example.

Also, the media would love, I’m sure, to continue the myth that parties decide preferences simply so people lose trust in the party that they typically associate with the fake practice.

No one controls your vote. Your decision will not be changed by any party. Only the voter can decide preferences. This idea of parties giving away your preferences is a myth. Bookmark this post and share it so you can show others when you see them spreading this myth.

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Australian Electoral Commission and the Colour Purple

Next week the Senate will vote on my motion to refer two matters that came out of the recent referendum to the Joint Standing Committee on Election Matters.

The first is about the misappropriation of the purple colour used by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). It confuses people and should be available to the AEC only. Even the AEC Commissioner is asking for protection on the purple they use.

Secondly, we need to clarify the words that should appear on a referendum ballot paper includes the full text of the amendment. This is in keeping with the wording of the Constitution.

Please share this video among your family and friends, call or email your Senators, and let’s get these loopholes tightened up for the sake of future confidence in our elections.

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Is the Referendum Rigged? Watch this

Is the Voice referendum RIGGED? Let’s talk about it.

Transcript

Is the referendum being rigged? 

The short answer is we don’t know. 

Yet there are many bad actors out there screaming very loudly, without the evidence, that the referendum is invalid or rigged. 

I’m worried some of our opponents in the Yes campaign are pushing these people to make you think it’s not worth turning up to vote. 

You may have seen the polls.  

The only way the Yes campaign can win at this stage is if people who are going to vote no, simply don’t turn up. 

It’s valid to be worried about the integrity of elections and the referendum. 

For years now, I’ve been working hard in the Senate to make improvements to Australia’s election integrity so that everyone’s vote is counted fairly. 

I’ve had some wins, and I’m still working hard on other unresolved issues. 

All of that work will mean nothing if people don’t turn up and write NO on the ballot paper in the first place. 

If you want to get more involved sign up as a scrutineer, in which your job is to watch the votes being counted and to make sure it’s done properly. 

Political parties can appoint scrutineers, apply to One Nation to become one today. 

Remember, voting is a few minutes of your day every few years. 

Can you do that for all our fellow Australians? And I promise to keep doing everything I can to make sure your vote is counted fairly. 

Stop Albanese’s proposal to divide Australia on race. On your referendum ballot paper write N-O.  

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Lowering the voting age, it’s a trap

If you know a 16 or 17 year old send this video to them.

To you, 16/17 year old, don’t worry about protesting the end of the world. Focus on having fun, hanging out with your friends and getting your P plates.

We adults wish we had more time to do that.

Transcript

This is my message to our 16- and 17-year-old Australians. You can okay boomer me as much as you want. I’ll happily cop it. Yet, as someone who is 67 and grey haired, I want to let you in on a little life secret. The Greens over here want you to think voting makes you an adult. It’s a trap. It’s something that no one here has really mentioned, but I remember that when I was your age you really don’t want to be an adult yet. Trust me, it kind of sucks and it’s hard.

The Greens are adults. Listening to their speeches, do they seem like happy people? Adults have lots of bills: car rego bills, electricity bills, water bills, gas bills, car insurance bills, private health bills, dental bills, phone bills and more. You might even have to start paying for your own Netflix. Then you have to go to work everyday, on repeat, daily, for 40 years until you retire or die. It’s 9 am to 5 pm—at least!—in an office. It’s up early before the sun rises if you’re a tradie. Don’t forget to do all your laundry in between as well. Then, if you work really hard and get a good job, the government will start stealing 33 cents out of every dollar you earn and waste it on something. These are just some of the responsibilities that come with being an adult.

As fun as I’m sure all this sounds, there’s much more. These are just some of the responsibilities that come with voting. They will all come more quickly than you think, and you will be voting sooner than you realise. Until then, just focus on finishing school or choosing a trade. Don’t listen to the people saying that you need to protest or the world will end. It won’t. For decades we’ve been told the lie that the world will end in five years or maybe 10 years. Hang out with your friends. Just have fun and practise to get your P-plates. You’ll soon have plenty of time to protest and vote and do all the boring stuff that comes with being an adult. It will be sooner than you think—much sooner than you think.

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