JWs Can Vote In Australia????

by Kent 2 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Kent

  Dr McGrath-I would like to quote Marshall Cooke QC on this, but first let me say that
  there is the potential for fraud. It is the AEC's job to look at fraud. They did not really do
  that in that case. That is a whole mess. Four years later I wrote to the president of
  Watchtower because I had been told that Jehovah's Witnesses had their votes usurped. There
  were over 200 of those. He lost his seat by 160. The Plymouth Brethren had 50 votes that
  were usurped. That was nearly 300. He gave me, in writing, a statement that they had
  investigated Macquarie. In Dickson and another electorate in Western Australia they were
  concerned about this use of their votes. He put it in writing. I have the statistics. It was four
  years later. . . . .

  Mr LAURIE FERGUSON-Page 9 of this submission cites the question of Macquarie.
  It is all right to say, `I am not saying it happened,' or blah, blah, blah but, if I read page 9
  with regard to Macquarie, it implies something. It is not actually clear what happened. Could
  I ask a few questions about that? Did they find that the 250 Jehovah's Witnesses and
  Plymouth Brethren had voted?

  Dr McGrath-Yes.
  .......

  Mr LAURIE FERGUSON-That is not here. Maybe you could have amplified it and
  maybe you are saying that now, but it only says here in your submission that the president
  of the Watchtower stated that those who are provisional did not receive please explain
  notices. It does not say anything about the president of the Jehovah's Witnesses saying they
  had voted.

  Dr McGrath-That would be a supplementary fact-that those people did vote.

  ..........

  http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:oUIbWgpHLx0:www.aph.gov.au/hansard/join

  Yakki Da

  Kent

  "The only difference between a fool and the JW legal department is that a fool might be sympathetic ."

  Daily News On The Watchtower and the Jehovah's Witnesses:
  http://watchtower.observer.org
• 

  Prisca

  It is compulsory to vote in Australia.

  If you do not turn up to the voting booths on election day to vote, you will be sent a "please explain" type letter. You fill out a form, stating why you did not vote. If you do not give an explanation, or you fail to give a good enough reason for not voting, you will be fined, about $50 I think.

  JWs are able to get out of being fined by stating that they did not vote because it was against their Christian conscience to vote for a man-made religion because they are one of JWs, or words to that effect. This system has been in place for decades (my non-JW grandfather used to work for the Electoral Office).

  Despite the WT coming out a few years ago saying that whether you voted or not is up to your conscience, it is still considered that not showing up at the voting booths is showing neutrality. If a JW was seen walking into the booths, he would be asked questions by the elders, or at least considered "unspiritual".

  Once you are in the voting booth, of course it is impossible for anyone to say whether you did vote or not. Or who you voted for, as the forms are folded and you put them in the box yourself.

  So how anyone can say that their votes were usurped is an interesting proposition.
• 

  Stephanus

  I always understood that Dubs voted "informally", i.e. they'd turn up to the booths to vote because it's the law but just drop a blank ballot paper in the box.

  Personally I'd like to see the Australian Parliament debating the GST exempt status of 'Towers and Awakes - whether or not the "donation arrangement" is just a tax dodge. My letter to the ATO (Australian Tax Office) is another one of those things on my "to do" list...

  Just a thought - why is Oz the only English speaking country honest enough to use the word "tax" in the name of its tax department - US, Canada, NZ and the UK all use "revenue" - more cute and cuddly perhaps.