Decade-old computer equipment underpins the country’s most important civic process. What happens when it breaks down?
Queensland is set to join all other states, territories and local councils (with the exception of Tasmania) in having fixed four-year parliamentary terms.
AAP/Dan Peled
The House of Representatives is now the only lower house chamber in the Australian parliamentary system with non-fixed three-year terms. Should it change?
What does a formal ballot look like after the government’s Senate voting changes?
AAP/Richard Wainwright
Even with free, private ballots, a quarter of us still end up voting for the ‘wrong’ presidential candidate. Here’s how to make sure you vote for the one who best matches your beliefs and hopes.
A line snakes down the sidewalk at Western High School in Las Vegas during the Nevada Republican presidential caucus.
David Becker/Reuters
The Women’s Equality party won’t be winning any elections – but that really isn’t the point.
It may be accepted wisdom that Australians are disengaged from politics, but there are plenty of other indicators to suggest otherwise.
AAP/Richard Wainwright
We may believe that Australians are disengaged from the political process, but that may be because we’re not looking in the right places.
Volunteers prepare to canvass in support of Oregon’s Measure 91, a ballot initiative that legalized recreational marijuana in Oregon.
REUTERS/Steve Dipaola
Data shows that voters organizing ballot initiatives on issues like marijuana use and plastic bag bans are doing more than creating DIY laws – they are spreading happiness.
Absolutely definitely Labour? Ok thanks bye!
Shutterstock
There is a growing canyon now separating politics as understood and practiced by political authorities from the political practices of everyday people.
The gerrymandered district has been part of the US political landscape for two centuries. Impartial math suggests several methods for drawing fair, competitive congressional districts.
The world is recognising that the issue of same-sex marriage is a matter of what state law, not religious doctrine, says, to the extent that Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel (right) and Gauthier Destenay recently married.
EPA/Julien Warnand
Same-sex marriage is about state recognition of the union between two people and is a political issue. Religious belief can apply in a church and in individual decisions, but not to a secular state.
Two sides of the same coin? Convergence theory explains why the Labor and Liberal parties are often closer together on issues than they like to portray.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Convergence theory – which holds that the main Australian political parties will, over time, converge upon near-identical policy positions on most issues – was on full display during budget week.
Not all eyes are on the prize: Eurovision is often as much about undeclared alliances, voting blocs and political paybacks.
Andres Putting (EBU)/Eurovision
For the first time, Australians can vote for this year’s Eurovision winner. But it’s as much a political battlefield as a song contest – so hopefully the Russians have forgotten the “shirtfront”.