Posts by Graeme Edgeler
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Legal Beagle: Up to 11, in reply to peteremcc,
Oh, and the one seat exemption wasn’t designed to counter the relatively high threshold.
I know. But that's still why I liked it.
That said, please look through the Report of the Royal Commission on the Electoral Commission and devine from it their rationale. It's been a while since I've read the whole thing, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't give a reason.
-
Legal Beagle: Up to 11, in reply to Hans Versluys,
As an aside, in that shiny city on the democratic hill, the USA, I’m always astonished that while you have a zillion burger options at the fast food joint but the burghers can only (realistically) choose between two party options. Land of plenty and the free?
That's FPP - it focuses on broad church parties.
But you don't realistically have two options. The Republican Party of John McCain is different from the Republican Party of George Bush and different again from the Party of Perry/Bachman/Cain/Huntsman/Romney/Palin/whoever.
And primaries and the like happen for every major office. Think of the final election as the run-off. When you get to that election, you're deciding between which of the top two candidates who are left you want, but the contest of ideas has already happened, and unlike in New Zealand, it has happened in public. So in the 2010 congressional mid-term elections, the tea party had already defeated a number of incumbent Republican representatives and senators in primary contests, and the same can happen within the democratic party.
You can look at the New Zealand elections in a similar way. This year, you have two choices: a National-led government, or a Labour-led one, the votes you cast merely decide the make-up of those governments. Does the National government have support from free-market ACT MPs? Which ones and how many? Does the Labour government rely on a strong contingent of Green MPs, or a smaller contingent of them with conservative New Zealand First MPs as well?
Is it a Republican Congress with a large number of foreign policy hawks, or is it more focused on small government conservatives?
-
p.s. how cool is it that the star ranking on the IMDB page for This is Spinal Tap goes up to 11?
p.p.s. I realise I stated that ACT's 85,000 votes was enough for 5 seats, and New Zealand First's 95,000 votes were also enough for 5 seats. First, they were kinda close. Second, had New Zealand First made it into Parliament (e.g. no threshold, or Winston winning an electorate) ACT would have dropped to four seats.
Also, what nomenclature do people prefer:
one seat exception
single seat exemption
one seat threshold
single seat ruleetc.
-
Hard News: We interrupt this broadcast ..., in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
More’s the point, what’s she done?
Nothing to make anyone consider her untrustworthy so far as I know.
-
Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Jeremy Andrew,
Does that make him illegal? And even if so, who would care?
Wyatt Creech and Winston Peters, that's who. </obscure electoral law reference>
-
Hard News: We interrupt this broadcast ..., in reply to John Morrison,
He speaks ponderously and accurately I know, but I would trust him long before his opponent.
What's wrong with Jackie Blue?
-
OnPoint: PREFU 2011: "What credit downgrade?", in reply to Craig Ranapia,
you’ve done sweet F.A. to convince me to stop voting National
They proposed and voted for outrageous Canterbury earthquake legislation.
-
Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Steve Barnes,
If it’s not you and you don’t send it back, does that mean you can steal tat vote? if you get to the booth before the real voter that is.
You don't need an easyvote card or any ID to vote, so you can corruptly do this anyway :-)
Also, it's not really about getting there first, it's about going to a clerk with a different copy of the electoral roll (at the same booth or somewhere else). Actually voting for someone else is pretty easy in New Zealand, but instances of dual voting are followed up very closely, so while you might get to cast a vote it won't count,* and you could well be caught.
* dual voted referendum votes will count, because the Government decided to cut corners and not have many of the protections in place for the election in place for the referendum as well. I, along with others, raised this concern in my submission on the Electoral Referendum Bill.
-
Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Sacha,
corrupt practices list
Oooh, how does one get onto that?
By being convicted of a corrupt practice in relation to an election, or being found to have engaged in a corrupt practice in an election petition. Even if you don't go to prison, you go on the corrupt practices list and can't enrol or stand for the next three years.
-
Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Steve Curtis,
If you arent sending back the voter registration form then they are automatically un enrolled
I think that’s only if the enrolment letters to other people are sent back.