With politicians globally enjoying almost zero respect from the community, many are groaning at the prospect of having to keep this machine going.

If you don't want to vote for someone, you could consider voting someone out. Did you know that our voting system is set up to help you vote IN and vote OUT candidates?

In Australia we have a preferential voting system. It is a powerful tool for democracy when voters use it properly. But it seems confusing. As a father of three adult children and a teacher of many adult students I often hear the cry, "how do I vote? What are all these boxes for?"

Dr Lindy Edwards, Senior Lecturer on Politics at the University of NSW, says "the goal of preferential voting is to make sure that we end up with the political candidate we hate the least". So what to do? You have two options if you want to make your vote as powerful as possible.

If there are six groups with boxes 'above the line' you need to vote no.1 for the group you like the most (or dislike the least) but just as important is to vote no.6 for the group you want out. The mob you really don't like at all. Then work into the middle with the hope that you end up with the group you dislike the least. Simple. How cool is that? Or:

If you are really keen, you can number every box under the line with the same spirit. If there are (say) 20 candidates, vote no.1 for the representative you like the most (or dislike the least) and vote no.20 for the representative you dislike the most, then vote for all those in-between. Bit complicated, but it still works.

And there you have it, our preferential voting system. But there is a 'trap' in the system that favours the big parties. In local government and state elections, you can just vote for one group and leave it at that. But if you only vote no.1 it's like putting all your eggs in one basket. You don't actually influence anything past your view. If your candidate doesn't make the cut, you have no influence on who does get voted in (or out).

Forget that one party says they preference another party. That's only their recommendation to you, the all-powerful voter. They can't actually say where your preferences go. It is up to you.

IN THE NEWS:

Recently Newcastle Partnerships ran a survey with nine questions of their community in the Newcastle LGA. One of them was "party politics is not relevant in local government". The result, 28 per cent of people think party politics in local government is a good idea. If you were one of the 'others' and want that to change I hope this helps.

Good to go? See you all on the other side.