It’s election eve in Australia, so we’ve compiled a roundup of all the information you need for voting tomorrow. Below the cut you can find information on the best information available online to find out who your candidates are and where to vote, along with the a wrap up of the election guides that are available online, and even how to get the election results SMSed to you!
Don’t forget to vote, and if you’re having an election night party, have fun! :)
Fancy having a personalised how to vote card emailed to you, or SMSed to you on the morning of the election? Online activist group GetUp have set up a 20 question online quiz to help you identify which of your local candidates most closely reflects your values.
The questions were also posed to the candidates, and the site generates your ‘how to vote’ card based on which candidate is the closest to your results. The questions range from the war in Iraq, health and education spending, union power, indigenous issues, and same sex issues.
I’m glad to see that GetUp also encourages people to check out the Australian Electoral Commission’s website and the websites of the individual candidates. Especially since not all candidates have responded to GetUp’s survey – for example in my electorate, neither the Liberal candidate nor the Family First candidate had responded, so my “How to Vote” card puts them last. Still it’s an interesting idea and a quick and easy way to identify your local candidates, at the very least.
How Should I Vote? [GetUp]
Back in September we told you about Google Map’s website for the Australian election 2007. They’ve just updated the “Australian 2007 Election” feature in Google Maps. You can now click on any House of Representatives candidate to see their Google search results or their YouTube channel.
You can also see the location of polling booths in your electorate – which will be very handy on polling day!
Australia’s Election Map Redrawn [Official Google Blog]
via Kwoff – Senator On-line claims to be Australia’s first internet-based political party, and says if its gets a candidate elected to the Senate, all Australians will be able to view and vote on every bill which goes through the Senate. SOL senators will vote in line with the majority ruling of the people’s vote. I’d like to be able to vote online (if the technology was unriggable and not a “hanging chad” disaster like the voting machines in the last American election) and being able to scrutinise the political process online would be great. But what if you don’t have internet access? I’d like SOL’s ideas better if they offered a plan to ensure internet access for all Australians.
