An odd question relating to the election
Aug. 22nd, 2010 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kirby1024I know I have a few people with political experience in my circles, and while I was watching the Election coverage last night, a question came to me.
How, exactly does the vote counting work?
Specifically, I'm wondering, do all the votes get taken to a central facility, or are they counted at the polling booth? I keep hearing of booths being counted pretty much at end of polling, and it seems to me that, especially in the rural electorate, it would have to take a fairly significant amount of time for the voting papers to get couriered to the tally room. If they're all being sent to a central counting room, the rural polling booths (especially in seats like Katherine, where there must be a huge number of very isolated polling stations) would barely get to the counting room before end of the election coverage.
And yet, we get counts for them on the night. So... How do the logistics of vote counting work?
In terms of actual reaction to the results? As much as I absolutely loathe the idea of Abbott in power, I suspect that even if he is in power, the Greens in the senate (and the House of Reps! Yay! Congrats all round to Adam Bandt!) will probably cause all manner of consternation for him. Even if he becomes PM, this is not a win for him, and the next few years are likely to be a horribly frustrating experience for him. I don't think it's quite time to start booking flights out of Australia just yet.
If Gillard wins she's likely to have a much better time of it, and I suspect that also, we're much more likely to get an ETS and Gay Marriage out of Labor with the Greens holding balance of power.
How, exactly does the vote counting work?
Specifically, I'm wondering, do all the votes get taken to a central facility, or are they counted at the polling booth? I keep hearing of booths being counted pretty much at end of polling, and it seems to me that, especially in the rural electorate, it would have to take a fairly significant amount of time for the voting papers to get couriered to the tally room. If they're all being sent to a central counting room, the rural polling booths (especially in seats like Katherine, where there must be a huge number of very isolated polling stations) would barely get to the counting room before end of the election coverage.
And yet, we get counts for them on the night. So... How do the logistics of vote counting work?
In terms of actual reaction to the results? As much as I absolutely loathe the idea of Abbott in power, I suspect that even if he is in power, the Greens in the senate (and the House of Reps! Yay! Congrats all round to Adam Bandt!) will probably cause all manner of consternation for him. Even if he becomes PM, this is not a win for him, and the next few years are likely to be a horribly frustrating experience for him. I don't think it's quite time to start booking flights out of Australia just yet.
If Gillard wins she's likely to have a much better time of it, and I suspect that also, we're much more likely to get an ETS and Gay Marriage out of Labor with the Greens holding balance of power.
