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Sep. 19th, 2004 12:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melwilSo I wrote to John Cherry the Democrat senator up for reelection in Queensland. I wanted confirmation on the Democrats/Family First preferences. He's a gem of an email writer, this guy. Let me offer some examples:
"Dear Melinda"
Okay, I'm so not voting for this guys now. He can't even spell my name right! I can't believe I double checked how to spell his last name.
"I doubt very much if our preferences will be allocated in this election
(as I expect to win the last seat)."
Cough. Splutter. Cough. Arrogant much?
He goes on to tell me that their leader would be the first Aboriginal women elected if she won. I'm all for women in government. I'm all for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in government. But that doesn't mean we should vote for any old person just because they meet those criteria! It would be like voting me into parliment just because I'm young and female and they need more young females in parliment.
John goes on
"If you don't like this preference deal (which we were forced into to counterweight the Labor/Greens alliance), you have the option of allocating your own preferences by voting below the line in the Senate."
I do fill in all my preferences, but so many people run for the senate these days, that numbering all the boxes leads for the possibility of misnumbering, and therefore rendering a vote invalid. And one year, apparently the senate paper for New South Wales was too big to fit in the booth.
"Dear Melinda"
Okay, I'm so not voting for this guys now. He can't even spell my name right! I can't believe I double checked how to spell his last name.
"I doubt very much if our preferences will be allocated in this election
(as I expect to win the last seat)."
Cough. Splutter. Cough. Arrogant much?
He goes on to tell me that their leader would be the first Aboriginal women elected if she won. I'm all for women in government. I'm all for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in government. But that doesn't mean we should vote for any old person just because they meet those criteria! It would be like voting me into parliment just because I'm young and female and they need more young females in parliment.
John goes on
"If you don't like this preference deal (which we were forced into to counterweight the Labor/Greens alliance), you have the option of allocating your own preferences by voting below the line in the Senate."
I do fill in all my preferences, but so many people run for the senate these days, that numbering all the boxes leads for the possibility of misnumbering, and therefore rendering a vote invalid. And one year, apparently the senate paper for New South Wales was too big to fit in the booth.
