Episode 1 of the new ABC series begins with one of the enduring quirks of the Australian electoral system: preferential voting.
Join Annabel on Monday for the third part of her ABC trilogy about parliamentary democracy in Australia, which began in 2017 with The house, and continued in 2021 with Ms representeda documentary series about the experiences of women in Australian parliaments.
In Annabel Crabb’s Civic Dutyshe visits historical turning points in the design of our democracy, examines its current function and asks important questions about its future.
We’ll start with one of the enduring quirks of the Australian electoral system: preferential voting. Praised by mathematicians and theorists, including most notably Alice In Wonderland author Lewis Carroll, as a fairer way of voting. Uniquely adopted by Australia in 1918.
The colonial beginnings of Australia’s booze-fueled public vote soon gave way to an era of democratic innovation, including the secret ballot. Women’s full right to vote, marred in 1902 by the exclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voters in a last-minute Senate amendment that changed the course of the nation.
The concept of an independent, permanent electoral authority is also an Australian invention. Annabel meets the keeper of this legacy, Australian Election Commissioner Jeff Pope, and slides down the mysterious electoral rabbit hole of bingo rollers, ballots chopped to remote locations and the raising of a quarter of a million pencils.
Annabel also visits the American border town of Bristol Tennessee-Virginia, to see what happens when election rules are left up to politicians.
Mondays at 8:30 PM on ABC.
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