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Almost 50 per cent of voters are confused about how the new Senate voting system works and may be unwittingly giving some of their preferences to parties they believe they had put last, a new poll suggests. The Australia Institute, who conducted the poll, says the Australian Electoral Commission needs to urgently review the instructions it is giving to voters for the May 18 election to ensure people understand what they are doing with their votes. Under the new system for Senate voting, introduced shortly before the 2016 federal election, voters are told to number "at least" six boxes if they are voting "above the line". Last year, progressive think tank The Australia Institute gave 1450 people the directions from a Senate voting paper and then presented them with a series of statements to test how well they understood the rules. When asked if "you should give a 'six' to the party you dislike more than any other party on the ballot paper", 47 per cent of respondents agreed. In a separate question, 32 per cent also agreed: "if you number beyond 'six' your ballot paper is disqualified". Both these statements are incorrect. Australia Institute director Ben Oquist said the results raise serious concerns that voters "may express their intentions in ways that backfire". "Giving a 'six' to your least liked party is in fact putting them above all parties you do not number, not putting them last". Mr Oquist says confusion over the voting system could have been a factor in One Nation's Malcolm Roberts' winning a Senate spot in 2016. One Nation got 1.19 quotas, but was able to translate this into a second Senate seat, which was filled by Mr Roberts. He was elected with preferences from about a third of Queensland ballot papers. "The AEC should at least review the script it is giving to booth officials and indeed the instructions on the ballot paper," Mr Oquist said. "If the point of the new Senate voting system was to empower voters, then there is a real danger that the opposite could be happening. In tight counts, this could make a difference in who gets elected." In 2019, the Senate races in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania are expected to be particularly fierce. For example, in South Australia, the final two Senate spots are likely to be fought out between One Nation, the Greens, Centre Alliance and the third position on the Liberal Party ticket. In Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie and independent Craig Garland are predicted to compete with the Liberal and Labor parties for the final seat. A spokesperson for the AEC said it would be running a "very substantial" public information campaign on how to cast a formal vote. This will appear in a wide range of places, including culturally and linguistically diverse media sources. "A how-to-vote practice tool is prominent on the AEC website, and the National Contact Centre is available 8am to 8 pm daily on 13 23 26 for public enquiries." A parliamentary inquiry into the 2016 election found no significant issues with the change to the Senate voting system. Its final report said: "voters appear to have responded positively to this change ... And on the whole, the reforms were positively regarded by the majority of electoral experts". In 2016, the rate of informal Senate ballots (where they are not filled out correctly and therefore not counted) was 3.9 per cent compared with 2.9 per cent in 2013. This was viewed as "unremarkable" by the parliamentary inquiry. Before the new Senate voting rules were introduced in 2016, voters had the option of simply putting a "1" in one box above the line or filling out all the numbers below the line for the Senate. If they put a "1" above the line, their preferences would be determined by the chosen party or group. The old system was simple but meant micro-parties could swap preferences with each other in so-called "preference harvesting". The 2013 election saw increasing numbers of candidates being elected on very low first-preference votes - such as Motoring Enthusiast Party candidate Ricky Muir with 479 votes - prompting Parliament to change the rules.

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