We haven’t received our ballot papers and yet two out of our nine councillors have been ‘chosen’.
We haven’t had the chance to vote, yet we already have some local government representation in place.
Candidates Sam Spinks and Rod Schubert have run for the Poplar and Midland wards, respectively, unopposed.
Now, I don’t know how everyone feels about this, but it has boiled my blood - and it’s nothing to do with the candidates themselves.
There are 46,851 eligible voters in Greater Shepparton, according to the Victorian Electoral Commission.
In the Midland Ward there are 5213 voters and in Polar Ward there are 5102.
Combined, there is a total of 10,315 voters whose voice will not be heard in this election.
A total of 22 per cent of people will not be given a choice.
Is this really democracy?
Does the ward system allow for democracy in the first place? If someone has the choice between two people and they don’t like either, do they really have a choice?
Will the council be an accurate representation of what the region wants?
There are some positives to the ward system. People know whom to go to if they have an issue, someone in their ward who is there for them.
I know democracy has its flaws, but is this the solution? I think not.
However, I don’t know how we could fix it.
If someone is unopposed, should another candidate be forced to oppose them?
Should we combine it with the nearest ward and have people vote for a top two?
Can we have fewer wards with more councillors representing each ward?
I’ve heard of people who are not voting this election and are upset because they don’t like the candidate, or they just want a choice.
Is it anyone’s fault if only one person wants to go for a ward?
Or is that also democracy? People having a choice to put themselves forward.
I had a look at the numbers, and 42 wards across the state will not vote in the elections this year.
Of the 4,613,421 eligible voters in the state, 178,359 will not have the opportunity to choose who represents them, which is about four per cent of voters.
It may seem like a small percentage, but some councils are more impacted than others.
One council won’t have an election at all. All three wards have the same number of candidates as vacancies. Shout out Yarriambiack Shire Council.
One council has five out of eight wards not voting and another has only one ward voting.
I’m sure some people who don’t bother with council will be happy to not vote; however, I see it as a sad lack of democracy.
This is not democracy manifest and is therefore un-Australian.
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