Every four years (barring death or some other catastrophe), the USA goes through the periodic madness of a presidential election. Wild behaviour, inaccuracies, mud-slinging from both sides have been central since George Washington’s second term. And the entire business of voting is muddied by the Electoral College, the …

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So this goes back quite some time to the recent Australian Federal election on May 18. In my own electorate (known formally as a “Division”) of Cooper, the Greens, who until recently had been showing signs of winning the seat, were pretty well trounced by Labor. Some background asides First, “Labor” as in “Australian …

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Recently we have seen senators behaving in ways that seem stupid, or contrary to accepted public opinion. And then people will start jumping up and down and complaining that such a senator only got a tiny number of first preference votes. One commentator said that one senator, with 19 first preference votes, “couldn’t …

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Election mapping A few weeks ago there was a by-election in my local electorate (known as an electoral division) of Batman here in Australia. I was interested in comparing the results of this election with the previous election two years ago. In this division it’s become a two-horse race: the Greens against the …

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On November 18, 2017, a by-election was held in my suburb of Northcote, on account of the death by cancer of the sitting member. It turned into a two-way contest between Labor (who had held the seat since its inception in 1927), and the Greens, who are making big inroads into the inner city. The Greens candidate won, …

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