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Comment by l332mn | Hacker News Reader

Care to give some examples of when this has happened?

It's never happened because Australians would never vote Green. Aside from having the public image as a bunch of hippies and crackpots, a huge chunk of our voter base just want to sit on their nest eggs, which the Libs (current govt.) promise to help with. Another huge chunk just vote how their parents vote.

The only reason Australians (generalising) vote at all, is because we'd get fined if we didn't. With donkey votes (vandalised ballots) counted as votes for the current government, this country exists to hold the status quo.

>With donkey votes (vandalised ballots) counted as votes for the current government

That is completely untrue. Informal votes are not counted at all.

That's odd. In the UK spoiled ballots are quite definitely counted.

"The number of Blank Votes and Spoiled Ballots are read out at the count, along with the results and are also included in subsequent reports. Your apathy towards the political parties will be heard not just forgotten."

https://votingcounts.org.uk/spoilt-ballot

My apologies, bad wording.

They're counted here too - just not towards any particular political party.

> With donkey votes (vandalised ballots) counted as votes for the current government

I've never heard that before. Do you have a link?

Sorry - invalid votes aren’t counted, they are ignored.

A "donkey vote" isn't a vandalised ballot. It's one where you vote by not considering the candidate, but voting by a simple order, usually numbering from top to bottom of the ballot.

Usually it is highlighted when an unlikely candidate gets a better than expected result, and the pundits would attribute it to the "donkey vote"

Read about our government here in Canberra where we have Labor Green coalition.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7273583/bandt-looks-t...

Canada’s NDP under Thomas Mulclair running against the Liberals.

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