Here is my guide on how to vote. Probably too late for most of you, but you can put it away and use it to vote in future elections.

1. Always vote for minor parties first. Big parties are boring and the world would be a better and certainly more exciting place if there are many minor parties in parliament. This thing we call democracy,  but which isn’t, would work better.
2. Vote for the parties you really dislike last. I always put loonies like Fred Nile’s party last.
3. Make sure the major party you prefer is ahead of the one you do not prefer.
4. Never vote according to a how-to-vote card.

For the senate you need some extra instructions.

1. In the senate always vote below the line.
2. Start with those parties you do not like. Start with the biggest number and vote backwards. In this election for NSW that’s 86 first, them 85. Count down in the columns.
3. Then vote for the parties you want to vote for, starting with 1 and counting up. It is important to do this becuase of the way the quota’s work. Again start with small parties first. The senate is where they can do their best
4. I am of the view that late counted votes have much more impact than early counted votes as they can influence the last few selections. Hence is it important to be near the end of the vote counting the senate. But I do not know enough of the actual counting mechanism to know how to achieve this. I suspect that voting below the line will help.

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