The Electoral Reform Society of SA is very impressed with the content of the Democrat’s Electoral Reform Platform (see http://www.sa.democrats.org.au/2009/platforms/Electoral%20Reform%20Platf...).

On Lower House Reform, the Democrats would make the major focus of electoral reform the establishment of multi-member electorates comprising of members elected by a proportional representation voting system. This is fully supported by the Electoral Reform Society.

Other aspects of interest to the Society include –

* changing the term of upper house members to four years
* keeping the number of members elected to the Upper House at 22
* a ban on the handing out of how-to-vote cards
* optional voting by 16 and 17 year olds
* election by general plebiscite of an impartial Speaker of the House of Assembly and President of the Legislative Council
* redistributing electoral boundaries after every second election

There are some items that the Society considers of dubious value, but in raising these, the Democrats have highlighted that they are considering how to improve our voting procedures. These are –
+ adopting the counting methods used in Federal elections to make it easier for recording a formal vote – we would prefer optional preferential voting
+ allowing voters to mark preferences above-the-line for the Upper House – we want above-the-line voting abolished
+ allowing voters to indicate their preference not to vote for any candidate.

There is no mention of electoral matters in relation to local government, despite the next local government elections being scheduled for later this year with concerns being expressed about the increase in local government terms to four years and non-residential landowners needing to now register before each election if they want to vote.

ASSESSMENT 8/10