Posted 9/10/12
Macedon Ranges Shire Council Elections, 2012
Special Feature:
What You Should Know Before You Vote...
| MRRA Home | Result | About Council | How Votes Are Counted | The Candidates | Candidate Preferences | About MRRA |
Election 2012 Homepage
Issues Addressed In this Special Feature:
About Council: We've been watching Council, and we tell you what our big concerns are with how it has been operating.
How Your Votes Are Counted: We explain vote counting systems, and the horribly complicated way your votes are counted and passed around. The people who understand are the ones who know how to play the system.
The Candidates: Who we would vote for, and who we wouldn't.
The Candidates' Preferences: Find out where candidates are sending your vote. See our tables showing candidates' preferences for each ward.
About MRRA: Association policy, and member candidates
2005 Council Election: MRRA Candidate Star Ratings
2008 Council Election: MRRA Candidate Star Ratings
Candidates' Statements - Victorian Electoral Commission: http://www.vec.vic.gov.au/Current/MacedonRangesCandidateStatements.html
Welcome to the MRRA's Special Feature on the 2012 Council Election, which is now underway. Ballot papers are being sent out, and over the next couple of weeks, you will vote to elect councillors to represent you for the next 4 years. Votes will be counted and winners announced on 27th and 28th of October.
This campaign seems to have darker undertones than previous elections; it's more personal, more desperate, more organised. With two marginal Labor seats in Macedon Ranges, and a State election in 2014, party politics are a factor as well.* The low number of candidates in the East, and particularly West, wards disappoints. Overall quality is not inspiring, with most candidates either:
- 'has-beens' (ex-councillors with a cycle of being elected then thrown out, elected then thrown out) hoping people have forgotten why they didn't vote for them,
- former councillors, or
- current councillors.
It could end up being the oldest Council Macedon Ranges ever had! The 'wanna-be's', perennials and new people are there too, some with better claims for being elected than others.
* (MRRA is non-party-political and does not support party politics of any flavour in council).
MRRA recently said in a letter to local newspapers: "With the right to vote comes responsibility: when we vote, we shape our democracy, and destiny. Who we elect is important, because Councillors make critical decisions on our behalf. We owe it to ourselves and the next generation to take a little time to ensure we make the best decisions we can." The 'best' decisions are usually informed decisions. Please, take a little time to inform yourself before you vote.