All of us here at EFA would like to wish you a happy election day!
It’s a fabulous time where we celebrate the peaceful transfer of power in our distinctly Australian way. May your #democracysausage be tasty, your queue short, and your voting pencil sharp.
We particularly want to thank you for your support, shares, and encouragement for our pre-election fundraiser. We raised $13,980! That’s amazing!
One of the things you’ve helped to fund is a collaboration with Digital Rights Watch to produce content and updates and a new website! The site is http://saveoztech.com.au. We’ll be talking about it a lot more in the coming weeks, but do check it out and share your story.
For today, it’s all about the big vote.
Remember that whoever you vote [1] for gets $2.756 for each first preference they receive, if they get more than 4% of all first preferences cast. If your first preference doesn’t win, it’s okay! The fabulous preferential voting system we have here in Australia means that you can put anyone else as number two and your vote will transfer to them. Or with your third preference if your second preference gets knocked out. And so on.
It’s not possible to ‘spoil’ your vote by giving your first preference to whoever you want, and your first preference will still get the cash. You can support a minor party with cash, and still help a major party to win, if that’s what you want to do. You can even draw a penis on your ballot if you want!
Still not sure who to vote for? Your digital rights are important (digital rights are human rights!) so to help you decide, Digital Rights Watch created a great election score card rating a bunch of major parties on their digital rights policies.
Innovation Aus has put together an Election roundup: Technology policy article with even more detail.
Thanks to your support we have the resources to keep technology and digital rights on the agenda no matter who ultimately forms government. We’ll be holding them to account, and fighting for better policies that benefit everyone. It’s going to be amazing and we can hardly wait to get started.
But for now, enjoy voting!