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Same-day elections would lift council vote: Premier

Nov 05, 2014
Premier Jay Weatherill.

Premier Jay Weatherill.

Holding council elections at the ballot box concurrently with state elections would “dramatically lift” council election voting numbers, Premier Jay Weatherill says.

Weatherill flagged the idea following an expression of “deep concern” by Electoral Commissioner Kay Mousley that voting numbers were tracking lower than average in this year’s council elections.

“If we do get this very low turn-out, we have to reflect on how we respond to that,” Weatherill told 891 ABC radio this morning.

“Another option is potentially lining up on the same day as the state election so that people are there and can make the choice and vote in local government if they like – that would dramatically lift turn-out.

“I know there are some people that would say that would politicise local government, but that’s certainly an option and I think we do have to reflect on it.”

Weatherill also said that it was Labor Party policy that voting should be made compulsory at the local government level, but “we haven’t acted on that yet”.

All local government voting in South Australia is voluntary and conducted by post.

According to the latest numbers from the Electoral Commission, 24.6 per cent of enrolled voters have had their ballots processed ahead of close of voting on Friday at 5pm.

Opposition local government spokesperson Steven Griffiths expressed disappointment at the low ballot return rate and said he was open to “any suggestion that would increase the number of people (voting)”.

“One would assume that if people are required to be in a polling booth … that most would take up the opportunity to vote in the local government elections at the same time,” he said.

“(However) many would think that having two levels of government standing at the same would create confusion.”

Griffiths said the current postal vote system costs around $4.3 million each election.

Mousley told InDaily that there was “some merit” to the concurrent election proposal.

But she said a “dramatic lift” in council election voting numbers would only be achieved if the ballot were made compulsory.

Mousley also warned that holding state and local government elections at the same time would add costs and operational complications for the commission, including big increases to staff numbers, ballot papers, ballot boxes and the time it would take to count votes.

“It would come at a significant cost, there’s no doubt about it,” she said.

Lord Mayoral candidate Kelly Henderson has been arguing for concurrent state and local elections throughout her campaign.

“I was glad that (Weatherill) has picked up the initiative,” Henderson told InDaily.

She rejected the notion the concurrent elections would be more expensive than the current postal ballot system.

“The ballot papers are produced anyway, the counting occurs anyway, but running the ballots at the same time would streamline the process,” she said.

“There would be a net cost reduction with this process.”

Flinders University political scientist Haydon Manning said same-day voting was “a really sensible proposal” but that it would be “foolhardy” to make voting compulsory in local government elections.

“(Concurrent elections) should be quite manageable for the Electoral Commission and not unduly confusing for voters,” Manning said.

“It would do no harm at all”

A spokesperson for the Local Government Association said that concurrent elections had been considered once before, but that, at the time, four-yearly terms were also being debated.

“Now four-yearly terms have been in place for some time it may be a concept which has some logic and cost savings to it,” he said.

“I am sure we will be canvassing all sorts of options in the wake of these elections and we will raise that and other questions in our post-election public survey.”

Mousley said the return rate at the 2010 elections was 32.9 per cent, and the return rate in 2006 was 31.6 per cent.

Historically, local government elections in South Australia were low-turn-out, voluntary attendance ballots, out of sync with state government elections.

The percentage of voters who returned their ballots jumped to more than 40 per cent when postal voting was introduced in 1999.

The marked decrease in voting numbers at the following election was attributed to clearer indications on ballot papers that voting was voluntary.

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