INDEPENDENT CALLS FOR A THOROUGH OVER HAUL OF OUR
“ELECTORAL SYSTEM”
You need Flash Player in order to view this. |
Independent Mark Aldridge takes dodgy election to the courts in SA |
Tens of thousands of missing votes, near 80,000 names missing of the electoral roll, dodgy practices across the board, including "Labor dressing up as another party" and handing out dodgy how to vote ... |
Over the
past decade my calls for an Independent commission to deal with both electoral
reforms and election conduct has fallen on death ears, says Mark Aldridge
Independent.
With out
doubt you all ways hear the minor parties and Independents complain about the
fairness of the system, as the entrenched 2 party system, leaves little hope of
exposure for those running on their own finances, but that is the least of our
problems.
The
electoral system should be all about empowering the voters of this fine country
and state, to ensure every elector knows how to vote, their rights and
obligations under the Act’s, who their choices are and what they stand for,
there fore ensuring our representatives are chosen by the free will of an
informed electorate.
We have
drifted so far from ideal democracy, we now find elections more about being
forced to attend, preference candidates we do not know or in fact oppose, many
do not know how the electoral system works, and we endure an increasing range of
dodgy practices, from the usual false promise to misleading advertising and out
right criminal activity, says Mark
I have
lobbied for many years to fix the broken system, and with every election, more
and more damage is being done, I started fighting for a booklet that explains
how to vote, who the candidates are and what they stand for, to be provided to
every house hold, not a hard ask says Mark.
Since then
even the original booklet we all received on “How to vote” has gone missing,
even the legislative provisions to ensure such information is in the polling
booths, like how to vote information and voting tickets, is ignored with
impunity, what a bloody disgrace screams Mark
This
recent federal election showed TV coverage of Candidates handing out their own
“How to vote cards” openly breaking the electoral laws as if they do not
exist.
Political
parties dressing up as other parties, handing out dodgy how to vote information,
should be a criminal offence, the issue of postal ballot applications that have
a replied paid address of the Political Parties head office is in deed dodgy,
even worse so registering opposition parties leaders names as a reply paid
address, is an offence against democracy and the peoples
rights.
Handing
voters a bloody pencil and a piece of paper to vote is a disgrace in the year
2010, let alone allowing the polling staff to carry rubbers, booth managers
avert their eyes to deliberate breaches of the Act like those handing out how to
vote information and the placement of electoral signs, as if the rules to
protect the integrity of elections mean absolutely
nothing!
The August
21 Federal election has been marred by many offences against the
protections voters have under the electoral Act, the South Australian March 2010
election seemed totally ignorant of any Ideal of a fair go for voters, yet it
seems the media condone such actions by way of their silence, so what is in
store for our future?
I will
repeat this just once more, 77,000 South Australian voters found them selves no
longer on the electoral roll, therefore denied their entitlement to vote, many
who have voted from the same address for many prior elections, over 16,500
postal ballots simply went missing, over 7500 postal vote applications were
found to be dodgy, and we now have a government that won by how many votes? Only
a couple of thousand votes, and I haven’t even started on the worst issues with
the conduct.
Polling
booths ran out of ballot papers in both the federal and state elections, people
were denied a replacement ballot paper in the state election, and handed rubbers
in the federal, this is nothing more than abuse of the corner stone of society,
democracy says Mark.
Candidates
being denied access to important contact information, prior to doing their
preference deals, election posters illegally erected, candidates names being
left of ballot papers, declared institutions like nursing homes and hospitals
being ignored by mobile polling, reports of undue influence on our elderly, and
all this is acceptable?
I risked
all I own, to take the fight to the court of disputed returns, to bring those
who would deny democracy to the people of my state to account, and it seems even
the court encourages such actions, even the best law firm in the state could not
help me bring the bastards to account, well it will not bloody happen
again.
I will get
together a group of patriotic Australians before the next election, educate them
on the laws in place to protect our rights, and we will bring all the offenders
to account.
Until the
day we have representatives freely chosen by an informed electorate, and an
independent body to police electoral conduct and much needed reform, not one
government deserves our support full stop.
Mark M
AldridgeIndependent
08
82847482 / 0403379500