In 2013, the Liberal Democratic party drew the first position on the massive NSW Senate ballot paper – first out of 45 columns, the densest ballot paper ever in an Australian federal election. The Liberal/National ticket drew a spot halfway along the ballot.
Faced with such a large number of candidates, many voters seemed to have confused the Liberal Democrats with the Liberal party – the LDP polled 9.5% in NSW, winning a Senate seat and more than $1m in public funding. The Liberal vote across NSW was more than 10% lower in the Senate than in most lower house seats.
To deal with potential voter confusion, the recent Senate reform legislation included a clause adding party logos to ballot papers. These laws will change what we see when we vote, and gives parties the chance to stand out with the right choice of logo.
These logos will be printed very small, and in black and white. Depending on the number of parties running, they will be between 7mm and 10mm square. It’s a challenge some parties have met much more effectively than others. Some logos might help voters find the party they are after, but others may end up looking like an unintelligible blob.
Some parties already have logos that will work well on the ballot paper. The Greens triangle is well known, and it’s very easy to notice when shrunk down to size. The party’s name is in a large font, but even if this can’t be read, the triangle is easily visible.
The Liberal National party in Queensland also has a very simple logo that should work well in a small size.
Some other long-standing parties have retained their logos, even though they do not work very well in such a small space.
The Nationals logo includes the words “for Regional Australia”, but these are unreadable when the logo is shrunk. The Labor and Liberal logos may be well known, but won’t be particularly easy to read.
Some parties have gone for very simple logos that bluntly communicate the party’s name. Family First’s logo is mostly taken up by the party’s name in big letters, while Senator John Madigan’s party (officially called “John Madigan’s Manufacturing and Farming party”) has opted simply for the word “Madigan”.
Some other parties have been more creative. Drug Law Reform is using a cannabis leaf, and the Australian Motoring Enthusiast party has used an image of Ricky Muir’s face.
The Nick Xenophon Team has opted for a big X filling the whole square. Expect to see a big X used prominently on this party’s materials during the campaign, as they run candidates all over Australia.
The Xenophon logo has drawn complaints from the Australian Sex party (which has not yet submitted a design). The Sex party’s Robbie Swan said “X sounds like sex” and thus the logo could confuse Sex party voters.
The far-right Australia First party is apparently planning to submit the Eureka flag as a symbol. If it does so, the Australian Workers’ Union has said it will object.
The sitting senators Glenn Lazarus and Jacqui Lambie have both registered their own parties: the Jacqui Lambie Network uses a map of Australia, while the Glenn Lazarus Team uses the letters GLT in the shape of a football.
Various other parties have used abstract logos, cluttered logos, and almost meaningless ones. At least two parties have used a crucifix, and one has a picture of a train.
The worst effort belongs to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party. It has attempted to fit the entire party name, along with images of a fisherman, a shooter and a farmer with a dog into their one square centimetre of ballot paper real estate. Others may have better vision, but this logo appears completely unreadable to me.
While the Coalition, Labor and the Greens will be well represented by booth workers handing out how-to-vote cards, many smaller parties will struggle to do so. For candidates such as Muir, Lambie and Lazarus, who have a high profile but a weak campaign organisation, a clear logo might be crucial in helping enough voters find their column on the ballot.
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