What is "donkey vote"

alt. (context Australia English) The act of casting a vote, in an election using a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferential%20voting system, by specifying the candidates in the order in which they are listed on the ballot paper (i.e., by numbering the choices sequentially from top to bottom, ignoring what they represent); a vote so cast. (From 1962.) n. (context Australia English) The act of casting a vote, in an election using a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferential%20voting system, by specifying the candidates in the order in which they are listed on the ballot paper (i.e., by numbering the choices sequentially from top to bottom, ignoring what they represent); a vote so cast. (From 1962.)

A donkey vote is a ballot cast in an election that uses a preference voting system, where a voter is permitted or required to rank candidates on the ballot paper, and ranks them based on the order they appear on the ballot paper. The voter that votes in this manner is referred to as a donkey voter.

Typically, this involves numbering the candidates in the order they appear on the ballot paper: first preference for the first-listed candidate, second preference for the second-listed candidate, and so on. However, donkey votes can also occur in reverse, such that someone numbers the candidates from the bottom up the ballot paper. In systems where a voter is required to place a number against each candidate for the vote to be valid, the voter may give the first preference to the candidate they prefer, then run all the other numbers donkey fashion.

Donkey votes are most common where preference voting is combined with compulsory voting, such as in Australia, particularly where all candidates must be ranked on the ballot paper. There are different versions of the phenomenon applicable in the Australian House of Representatives, Australian Senate and in the Australian jurisdictions that use the Hare–Clark single transferable vote system.

Donkey votes may occur for several reasons, including voter apathy, protest voting, the complexity of the voting system, or voter ignorance of the voting system rules; alternatively, what appears as a donkey vote may in fact be a genuine representation of a voter's preferences.