AUSTRALIAN ELECTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19142, 7 October 1925, Page 14

AUSTRALIAN ELECTIONS.

COMPULSORY VOTING LAW. A MILLION NEW VOTERS. RECORD POLL ANTICIPATED. [FROM OT'R own correspondent.] SYDNEY. Oct. 2. The Compulsory Voting Bill enacted by ! the Commonwealth Parliament last year ; is having a curious effect on the campaign for the Federal election which will take place on November 14. The Chief Elec- j toral Officer for the Commonwealth says that the Act will cause the coming elec- ■ tion to be the greatest in Australian history. In the 1919 election 67 per cent, of the voters euro,led went to the polls and in 1922 this percentage dropped to 56. Now with a fine hanging over the head of the non-voter the poll is ex- i pec ted to reach 90 per cent, of the enrolment. The election will cost Australia nearly £IOO,OOO and will require the services of 25,000 officers, 9000 polling places, and between 4.000,000 and 5,000,000 ballot papers. It is calculated that there will be more than 1,100,000 new votes on account of the compulsory voting provision. He would be an audacious prophet who would iredict accurately the direction in which this million or so extra votes will swing. Both Ministerial and Labour members are claiming that the majority of these votes will be cast in favour of their party. The former argue that the most of the new voters who will be compelled at this election to exercise their franchise will be found to be the middle-class backsliders who, wavering between the policies expounded by the opposing parties in previous elections, decided not to vote for Careless Party Supporters. On the other hand, it is the expressed belief of many Labour members that the preponderance of erring voters were careless supporters of their party who took the view in past years that "old Jim," or "old Bob," or "old Frank," "would have quite enough votes without mine.' Labour is also claiming that the bulk of the 200,000 extra votes of those young men and women who have reached the age of 21 since the> last election will be behind Labour. It is not surprising, therefore, that the efforts of the party organisers end canvassers are concentrating on the winning of wavering and new electors. The fact that they must vote for somebody is firstly emphasised and then the persuasion begins for the- somebody to be Nationalist, Labour or Country Party, as the case may be. With preference voting also in force, the electors are being warned to be as careful of their preference vote as of their primary, or No. 1 vote. The system of preference voting is that, where three candidates are contesting a seat, the lowest after the primary votes are counted is eliminated and hi 3 secondary. or No. 2 votes are distributed. Where there are more than three candidates, the process of elimination and the distribution of second, third and fourth preferences is carried to the final issue by the same process. Second Preference Votes. If the pact between the National and Country Party candidates is carried out to the "letter, the second preference votes of these candidates would be reciprocated, but while the Country Party is practically certain to secure every Nationalist second preference, the* Nationalist is not jo sure of receiving the Country second preference. For instance, when the general secretary of the Victorian Fanners' Union was asked to explain the circumstances governing preferential voting _in throe-cornered constituencies, he replied by quoting a rule of the union's constitution which reads: "No recommendation shall be officially made by the union or any of its officers or by tHo Country Party regarding the disposal or exchange | of second or subsequent preference votes.