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voting
International
Small force, great weight
Benjamin Reilly
27 November 2020
Could preferential voting be an “Archimedean lever of change” for American politics?
Correspondents
America’s electoral counter-revolution
Nicole Hemmer
19 October 2020
What the Republican Party is attacking is democracy itself
National Affairs
A complex compulsion to vote
Peter Brent
13 October 2020
Australians are more likely to vote than their international counterparts — but does that mean the system should stay as it is?
International
Trump’s generation gap
Lesley Russell
8 September 2020
Young voters look like playing a bigger role than usual in this year’s election
Essays & Reportage
Did late deciders confound the polls?
Murray Goot
19 September 2019
Predictions of the 2019 election result were way off the mark. But we still don’t know why
National Affairs
The referendum conundrum
Peter Brent
20 August 2019
Attempts to change the Constitution often fail, but that doesn’t mean we should stop trying
National Affairs
Not what the voter ordered?
Peter Brent
7 August 2019
Australia’s lower house voting system isn’t designed to be proportional, though perhaps it should be
International
In for the count
Lesley Russell
10 July 2019
A furore over a proposed question in the 2020 US census could escalate into a constitutional crisis
National Affairs
The secret ballot with an antipodean twist
Peter Brent
3 July 2019
The Australian Ballot almost took over the world, but it might not be entirely our idea after all
National Affairs
Voting for the future
Peter Brent
26 June 2019
Secrecy and convenience don’t always coincide in Australia’s highly accessible electoral system
National Affairs
Can you feel it?
Peter Brent
18 May 2019
Election 2019
| Will the skittish commentariat be vindicated tonight?
National Affairs
A matter of preferences
John Quiggin
17 May 2019
Election 2019
| The two-party-preferred count is a relic of an era in which the major parties were overwhelmingly dominant
National Affairs
Labor’s nightmare (and other preference puzzles)
Peter Brent
7 May 2019
Election 2019
| Voters’ rankings could count in ways that aren’t clear in the polls
National Affairs
On a roll with the AEC
Peter Brent
3 May 2019
Election 2019
| The Australian Electoral Commission’s success in boosting voter enrolments has created its own problem
Campaign notebook
The war within
Peter Browne
3 May 2019
Election 2019
| How the Liberal right found its enemy, why the High Court could be busy this year, and why you might worry about early voting
National Affairs
Voting early, voting often?
Peter Brent
21 March 2019
Leaving aside errors and misunderstandings, Australia doesn’t have a big fraudulent-voting problem. But a little reassurance wouldn’t go amiss
Books & Arts
A festival of (compulsory) democracy
Paul Rodan
5 March 2019
Books
| How Australia came to be good at elections
National Affairs
A solution in search of a problem
Graeme Orr
11 December 2018
The Coalition wants to introduce compulsory voter ID in Australia. Here’s why we don’t need it
National Affairs
Australia’s growing democracy gap
Joo-Cheong Tham
2 October 2018
A little-remarked feature of New Zealand’s political system would help make Australia more democratic
Books & Arts
Globe-trotting possum-stirrers
Sylvia Martin
1 October 2018
Australian suffragettes played a sometimes flamboyant role in the fight for the vote, at home and in Britain
National Affairs
Is demography still working against the Coalition?
Ian Watson
14 September 2018
The short answer is yes, but the long answer is more complicated
National Affairs
Is something rotten in the City of Melbourne?
James Murphy
28 March 2018
By the time a new lord mayor is elected in May, quite a few electors will have voted twice
National Affairs
Are we overthinking referendums?
Peter Brent
2 February 2018
Conventional wisdom advises against holding referendums at election time. Conventional wisdom is wrong
National Affairs
Queensland: a final note on preferences
Tim Colebatch
14 December 2017
The detailed figures are out at last, and they confirm that One Nation’s preferences barely mattered
National Affairs
Beyond the Hipster Line
Frank Bongiorno
19 November 2017
Perhaps the most interesting results of the marriage-equality survey were to be seen outside the eastern capitals
National Affairs
Marriage equality gets a Yes; uncertainty strikes in Bennelong
Peter Brent
15 November 2017
Both votes are a test for the government, but the second has suddenly become less predictable
National Affairs
Perplexing the poll-watchers
Peter Brent
30 October 2017
How-to-vote cards will play a key role in determining next month’s election result in Queensland
National Affairs
Are voters moving to the left?
Peter Brent
1 September 2017
More young Australians are enrolled to vote than ever before. But will this have the impact Labor and the Greens are hoping for?
National Affairs
Marriage equality’s secret weapon
Peter Brent
10 August 2017
Could one divisive figure decide the result?
National Affairs
The forgotten 1967 referendum
Paul Rodan
26 May 2017
Fifty years ago this weekend, Australians voted on two constitutional changes. One of them was defeated, and that’s still influencing election results today
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