If you're not enrolled to vote yet, you've missed out. But for the Canberrans who have got themselves on the electoral roll, the next step is deciding who to vote for on October 15. And in a Hare Clark voting system with five politicians elected from each seat, that's not always an easy task.
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Former long-time Canberra Times editor and now columnist Jack Waterford, this reporter Kirsten Lawson, and Riot Act editor Charlotte Harper talk voting, elections and politics at 3pm Sunday at Muse at the East Hotel - where you get a chance to ask questions and take part in the discussion.
This year's election is more interesting than many after 15 years of Labor government, and the shift to five electorates. But are the Liberals up to the task? So long has Canberra been led by Labor that not one of them has ever been in government.
For voters inclined to say a pox on both their houses, there are the Greens, but that means a Labor government. The other option is to vote for one of the many many independents, some going it alone and others who have collected themselves under minor party banners - there are also longer-standing minor parties such as the Sex Party and the Liberal Democrats, as well as the Like Canberra Party, which falls somewhere between a collection of independents and an actual party.
The best strategy to get an independent elected is to vote only among independent and minor parties on the ballot paper and stop there - if you send your next preference to a major party, it might well contribute to that major-party candidate wining the count. Crispin Hull would say don't stop at five or any other number of preferences, but keep numbering to the bitter end, and this is no doubt a way to make your vote count right to the end of the count, but it's probably not the best way to get an independent over the line. But how many voters care enough, are strategic enough, or even want that outcome enough to vote this way? As many as one in five voters must do this to ensure an independent success, which seems a mighty hurdle.
One problem with voting independent is that you don't know what you're getting, especially if you follow the strategy most likely to get an independent elected and vote for all of them, and only them. We still don't know who all the independents are - with candidate nominations closing on Wednesday. The good news is that so far many or perhaps all of the independents who have come forward seem reasonable, intelligent, non-extreme people. The bad news is while they might pledge a position on certain key issues - almost all of them want an ICAC, for example - you can never predict how they'll vote on the myriad votes that come to the Assembly. If you're following the simply-vote-independent strategy, it also won't be clear whether you'll end up electing one who will support a Labor government or a Liberal government, who will vote for a light rail network or against it. It can get as confusing as that.
And because Canberra is electing an extra eight parliamentarians this year, plus there are two retirements, no matter who you vote for there will be at least 10 new faces in that modest London Circuit parliament come the end of October.
