Protest vote.

Sat, 14 May 2011
1 min read
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A status update I posted on Facebook: "Dear friends, I know many of us are disappointed that George Yeo has been voted out of Parliament. Remember that this is a corollary of the GRC system. If anything, don't worry - we're in safe hands; the WP will be campaigning for the abolition of the GRC system."
A status update I posted on Facebook: “Dear friends, I know many of us are disappointed that George Yeo has been voted out of Parliament. Remember that this is a corollary of the GRC system. If anything, don’t worry – we’re in safe hands; the WP will be campaigning for the abolition of the GRC system.”

Suddenly, I discover I’ve been un-Friended.

Facebook tells me that "Getty Richway Luckschild is no longer in your friend list."
“Getty Richway Luckschild is no longer in your friend list.”

Confused. Why? I hop over to his profile to try and figure it out. Ah. So des ne.

One of Getty Richway Luckschild's likes: George Yeo.
One of Getty Richway Luckschild’s likes: George Yeo.

[SGE 2011] Rejected votes: A basic analysis.

Sun, 8 May 2011
2 min read
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Your vote is your voice: Be heard.

Thought I’d just take a basic/preliminary look at the rejected votes in this year’s General Elections because it’s something I’m curious about.

Based on data provided by ChannelNewsAsia:

  • Total percentage of rejected votes as a proportion of votes cast: 2%
  • Constituencies with lowest percentage of rejected votes:
    • Hougang: 1.13%
    • Aljunied: 1.34%
  • Constituency with highest percentage of rejected votes: Ang Mo Kio (3.01%)
  • Proportion of constituencies with rejected votes > national average of rejected votes: 16/26

What are some possible conclusions we can draw from this?

  • Perhaps voters in Hougang and Aljunied took voting the most seriously because:
    • These constituencies were the most hotly contested,
    • These constituencies were contested by the Workers’ Party (reinforced by the fact that all except one of the constituencies contested by the Workers’ Party had <2% of votes rejected).
  • Rejected votes in Ang Mo Kio: small proportion of voters who feel they don’t really have a choice, or perhaps are really clueless about how to vote.
  • If it’s the latter, then we can tackle this problem in relation to the fourth statistic I found:
    • Perhaps we need to be teaching our fellow citizens how to vote over the course of five years, instead of only doing so during the elections.
    • There also needs to be instructions at polling booths, because the rejected votes make a mockery of the voting process.

This is a basic analysis of the data, so I welcome more scrutiny/thoughts on the subject.