Langer vote

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A Langer vote is a vote marked "1, 2, 3, 3 , 3,….etc" in the Australian electoral system. It was widely publicised by Albert Langer[1], an Australian political activist, as a means to direct votes to the voters preferred parties, with out having to direct preferences to other parties.

The voter marked 1, 2, ..., n for the candidates who they wished to direct preferences to, but repeated the next digit against each of the remaining candidates. For example a vote would be marked 1, 2, 3, 3, 3. The remaining candidates would then not receive preferences. At the time this constituted a valid vote.[2]

In this manner, the voter could access Optional Preferential Voting, despite the system not being designed for this to occur.

The Langer voting method was made invalid by amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Act on July 17, 1998. The casting of a Langer vote is now considered an informal vote.[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.lastsuperpower.net/docs/neither-fedlaw-review/view?searchterm=langer%20vote Retrieved 2 March 2007.
  2. ^ http://www.anu.edu.au/mail-archives/link/link9602/0058.html Retrieved 2 March 2007.
  3. ^ http://www.aec.gov.au/_content/what/media_releases/1998/oct/langer_style.htm Retrieved 2 March 2007.