Australia has a strong history of innovation at the electoral level. The states have been the incubators for this innovation with Tasmania being one of the leaders. The Robson Rotation gets it name from Neil Robson's bill to the Tasmanian Assembly in 1979. The Tasmanian Assembly uses a preference voting system. One of the inefficiencies of the preference system that skews the outcome is the "donkey vote". The Robson Rotation limits the effect of this.
Random Ordering The Robson Rotation requires that candidates be ordered randomly on a ballot paper. This gives voters pause, as they search for their preferred candidates and then order them accordingly. It also stops the skewing of electoral outcomes by donkey voters. This is where a voter orders the candidates by top to bottom or bottom or top. Previously candidates that were on the top of the ballot would get a boost to their electoral fortunes as donkey voters rated them with high preferences.
The relevant section from the Tasmanian Electoral Act that contains the statutory language supporting the Robson Rotation;
89. Election with pollAnother positive outcome of the Robson Rotation is that it minimizes the effect of party "how to vote" cards. The voter still has to deliberate and find the candidates on the ballot, rather than just following a pattern, or an above the line vote. Just for good measure, the Tasmanian Electoral Act also includes penalties for handing out "how to vote" cards within 100 metres of an Electoral Booth;(1) If the number of candidates for an election exceeds the number required to be elected, the returning officer for the division concerned is to announce that a poll will take place on the day fixed by the writ for that election. (2) As soon as practicable after the announcement of candidates under section 87, the returning officer is to -
a) for the purposes of Schedule 3 determine, by an approved method, the random order in which the names of candidates are to appear in each column on the first batch of ballot papers; and (b) in the case of an Assembly election, for the purposes of section 97(6) determine, by an approved method, the random order in which the columns mentioned in section 97(2) and (3), if any, are to appear on the ballot papers.
177. Offences within 100 metres of polling place A person must not, within 100 metres of, or within, a polling place which is open for polling -These innovations have served to defray the influence of parties on elections. Tasmania does not hold by-elections either. If an Assembly seat is vacated for whatever reason, the preferences for the candidates in the previous election are consulted. The candidate with the most number of votes then occupies that seat. Consequently parties often have several members contesting seats. This defuses the number of votes for the party as well, as block voting for a party is not guaranteed and those that choose to vote along party lines still have a choice of different candidates within their preferred party. Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory uses the Robson Rotation on its ballot papers. The Robson Rotation was entrenched, by name, in the Hare-Clark Entrenchment Act of 1994;(a) canvass for votes; or (b) solicit the vote of an elector; or (c) induce or attempt to induce an elector not to vote for a particular candidate or particular candidates.
(g) ballot papers shall be-The Hare-Clark system of voting is a single transferable vote (SVT) named after Englishman, Thomas Hare and Tasmanian, Andrew Inglis-Clark. Tasmania has been using the Hare-Clark voting system since 1909. Andrew Inglis-Clark's other achievements include writing the original draft of the Australian Federal Constitution.(i) prepared and collated in accordance with the method known as the Robson Rotation; and
