The postal ballot system has to go.

Dear Sir,
The recent local government elections have highlighted the necessity for change.
The postal ballot system has to go.
It will not be long before there is no such thing as a letter in the post.
Anecdotal evidence suggests the many potential electors threw their ballot papers in the rubbish.
The day I received mine I had three letters in my post box.
One was from a charity organisation, one from a banking institution wanting me to change banks and one from the Tasmanian Electoral Commission.
There was little to differentiate between the three.
Had I have not been expecting the one from the TEC I would have placed all three in the garbage bin.
This system is also wide open to corruption.
What is to stop me from voting for my neighbours who are abroad?
Or what is to stop my uncle Ted from voting for his two children who have left home but are still enrolled at Uncle Ted’s address? Nothing!
It is my understanding Tasmania ‘pioneered’ postal voting at its 1994 and 1996 Local Government elections.

It may well have seemed like a good idea at the time and even increased the turnout, albeit a small one.

However, it is now 2011 and the relevance of postal voting is on a very steep decline.

I am aware I am not offering solutions here and the voting system is just one of the problems facing local government in Tasmania.

Let us include the voting system in the inevitable shake-up of the overall system.

Dean Charles Parry
Hobart

Dean Parry
2/7 Secheron Road
Battery Point 7004
Dean Charles Parry Candidate for Alderman Hobart City Council 2/7 Secheron Road