Wasted vote myth exposed

If you vote 1 for The Greens candidate and they are eliminated during the counting of the vote, then your vote flows on, at full value, to the remaining candidate you have preferenced. That's not a wasted vote -- it's a safe vote with a powerful message! To understand the way preferential voting works visit the NSW Electoral Commission.

Both Labor and the Coalition are happy for tens of thousands of voters to continue to be conned by the myth that a vote for a minor party is a “wasted vote”, because it means more number one votes for their party.

Many voters would like to give The Greens a number one vote but are worried that if they do, it will somehow help the major party they can’t stand, defeat the major party that they think is not quite as bad. The reason so many voters mistakenly believe this, is because the NSW preferential voting system has not been properly explained to the public.

The Greens MP Lee Rhiannon reassured many voters thinking of voting for The Greens, particularly those that had voted Labor in the past, when she explained “A number 1 vote for The Greens, then a preference allocation to the major party a voter prefers, is a safe and powerful vote. It sends a message to the big parties that their performance is not good enough, and if The Greens candidate is eliminated during the counting of the vote, then the vote flows on, at full value, to the major party candidate that was preferenced by the voter.”

Under Australia’s preferential voting system often candidates are elected because of minor party preferences. Labor for example has won hundreds of seats over the years because of Greens voters’ preferences, and in some of those seats the Labor candidate had less number one votes than the Liberal or National party candidate. The preferential voting system is entirely different to the British and American first past the post system where the candidate who has the most number one votes automatically wins.

It is the “wasted vote” myth that helps the incumbent major parties retain two party political dominance. While it is difficult to estimate the size, strong anecdotal evidence from voters is that the minor parties, especially The Greens, are missing out on a huge number of votes because of this myth.

Greens campaigners reported that at the last federal election many voters would say “I would have liked to have voted for The Greens but we have to get rid of John Howard so I voted Labor.” A number one vote for The Greens and a two for Labor would have worked just as well, and sent a message to Labor. Fortunately the voting system allows voters to vote for whoever they like safely, provided they allocate preferences.

A simple example is if the Liberal candidate polled 10 votes, the Labor candidate polled 8 votes and The Greens candidate 6 votes, and the Greens voters gave preferences to the Labor candidate by giving them a number two when filling out the ballot paper, then the Labor candidate would win the seat, defeating the Liberal by 14 votes to 10.