Tasmanian voters are defying party allegiances and going below the line to vote for individual candidates for the Senate, signalling a missed opportunity for the major parties who preference candidates according to party politics.
Incumbent Labor Senator Lisa Singh won nearly 20 per cent of Tasmanian Labor's below the line first preference votes, compared to 70 per cent of Labor voters in Tasmania who voted above the line for the Labor ticket, according to the
latest figure from the Australian Electoral Commission.
This is despite Senator Singh being given what many commentators called an "unwinnable 6th spot". The first preference votes for Senator Singh was higher than those of any other Tasmanian Labor candidates for the Senate.
The Labor party demoted Senator Singh in favour of all the other Labor candidates, including a relatively unknown union official, John Short.
The figure also shows so far, 13 per cent of Liberal voters went below the line to vote for Richard Colbeck, ahead of Eric Abetz, who won 8 per cent of Liberal votes. The Liberal party as a whole received more than 70 per cent of over-the-line votes from Liberal supporters.