http://www.ozpolitic.com/electoral-reform/optional-preferential-voting.htmlIn NSW state elections for the lower house and in QLD state and local government elections, voters do not have to rank all of the candidates. This is called optional preferential voting (OPV), even though it is still compulsory to turn up and vote. OPV is a way to get rid of compulsory voting by stealth, without actually saving people the trouble of voting. Most people who promote it have a fundamental misunderstanding of how preferential voting works. They tend to think that being forced to rank the two major parties somehow works in their favour. In fact, the opposite is true. Optional preferential voting is a dream come true for the major parties and will help them hold on to power.
Optional preferential voting misleads most voters and is often promoted on fundamentally undemocratic principles. It is based on misidentifying the source of the two party duopoly, which is single member electorates rather than compulsory voting or preferential voting. Finally, optional preferential voting is likely to benefit the coalition above the Labor party in the short term, by fragmenting left wing voters under a ‘divide and conquer’ strategy.
Confusion with the federal Senate system
OPV is only rational if voting is entirely optional
Misrepresenting preferential voting
Optional voting and preferential voting are completely different issues
OPV helps the major parties, not the minor parties
The laziness argument
OPV is promoted on undemocratic principles
Single member electorates cause the two party duopoly, not compulsory voting
Optional preferential voting will benefit the coalition
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