Category: General

At the end of every second month, this site issues a plea to its readers for the donations it needs to keep it going/make it worth my while. On this occasion I’ve held back a few weeks to strike while the iron is at its very hottest. Regular readers would be aware that I’ve been working hard for money throughout the campaign, with extensive daily blog posts to supplement the vast federal election guide that covers the contest for both houses from every imaginable angle, and all-but-instantaneous updating of the famous BludgerTrack poll aggregate.

The best is yet to come, however, because on Saturday night and beyond the site will offer a live results facility that I flatter myself will put all its rivals in the shade. All the proof you need of this can be found on the 2019 results page that I’ve been running for testing purposes, and which currently preserves the results as they were at around 10:30pm on that fateful night.

As you can see, it consists of an entry page summarising the current state of the count in all 151 seats, which links to individual results pages for every seat including projections of the final two-party result and win probability estimates, a table of booth results encompassing two-candidate preferred and the primary vote with tabs allowing you to toggle between raw votes, percentages and swings, and booth results maps with colour-coded dots and numbers pointing to the results of each booth that you can click on for a full set of results.

If it’s booth results you’re after – and if you’re at the level of interest required to follow this site, it almost certainly will be – this feature will, I believe, be the only game in town. Unless its changed its practices, the Australian Electoral Commission site doesn’t actually provide booth results on the night, offering no more than tables identifying which booths have reported on the primary vote and two-candidate preferred. Nor do I believe any other media outlet’s results facilities will feature results in such detail, and in the unlikely event that they do they will not be provided in such a user-friendly format.

If you think I’m deserving of more from this than satisfaction at a job well done, donations can be made through the PressPatron “become a supporter” button that appears in the blue bar across the top of the page, and the buttons that appear at the foot of each blog post. If you are having technical problems with the donation facilities, please drop me a line at pollbludger-AT-bigpond-DOT-com and we can work something out.

Every two months, this site sends out an appeal to its readers for donations, which can be made through the “become a supporter” button at the top of the page. When it has its wits about it, it does so a few days before the end of the month to add some juice to payments that are received on a calendar month basis, but lately it (okay, I’ll stop now) has been so busy that I didn’t get round to it, so I could be singing for my supper at some point over the next few weeks.

The things that have been keeping me busy include some that might inspire you to toss me a few dollars if you’ve found them in any way rewarding: a South Australian election guide that can be viewed here, and live results reporting of the recent New South Wales by-elections. And obviously the site will have a lot to offer over the coming months, ahead of a South Australian election that’s a fortnight away from tomorrow followed not too long after by the big one, which can be anticipated between May 7 and May 21 according to various theories I’ve heard.

At the end of every second month, this site issues a plea to its valued readers for contributions. Three particular reasons you might want to help out on this particular occasion: I have now rounded out my characteristically comprehensive federal election guide with a characteristically comprehensive guide to the election for the Senate; the beloved BludgerTrack poll aggregate facility has now been expanded with state-level federal voting intention trends for the five mainland states; and it’s Christmas/New Year, which is never a brilliant time for site revenue, presumably because interest in politics is subdued and people have other demands on their money.

Donations can be made through the “become a supporter” buttons at the top of the page and the bottom of each post.

At the end of every second month, this site issues a plea to its valued readers for contributions. If it doesn’t seem to you that I’ve been working that hard for your money lately, you will have cause to think again when I publish my vast federal election guide later today. Donations can be made through the “become a supporter” buttons at the top of the page and the bottom of each post. Many thanks to you all for your support, moral and financial, now and always.

UPDATE: The federal election guide (except the yet-to-be-done Senate section) is now available for viewing here.

At the end of every second month, this site casts dignity aside to plea to its valued readers for contributions. This can be provided through the “become a supporter” buttons at the top of the page and the bottom of each post. Note that the site is now free of advertising and, as a result of now-resolved technical difficulties the site was experiencing a little while back, very slightly more expensive to run that it used to be. As always, my sincere thanks to all the site’s donors, both regular and occasional.

At the end of every second month, this site offers readers a gentle reminder of its reliance upon their patronage. Careful readers of the blog may be aware that it has incurred an unanticipated one-off operating expense since the previous charity drive, which may perhaps cause some of you to consider a donation particularly timely. This can be provided through the “become a supporter” buttons at the top of the page and the bottom of each post. It might also be worth noting one more time that the site is now free of advertising, even if you’re among the apparent minority who do not use ad blockers. As always, my sincere thanks to the site’s many valued contributors.

On 28 March 2021 I published content containing false and damaging comments that Andrew Laming MP was a sociopath, a bully and that he had unlawfully taken a picture up a young woman’s skirt.

A complaint to the Queensland Police on 29 March 2021 cleared Andrew Laming MP the following day of all wrongdoing, because there was no evidence to suggest any offence had been committed in respect to the complaint.

I apologise for, and regret, making the damaging comments about Andrew Laming MP. I unconditionally withdraw these comments, which were wrong, inaccurate and unsubstantiated.

At the end of every second month, this site offers a gentle reminder of its reliance on your patronage. This can be provided through the “become a supporter” buttons at the top of the page and the bottom of each post. Some specific reasons why you might think this particularly worth doing at the moment:

• The site is now free of advertising. This particular income stream had in any case dwindled to practically nothing over the years — until a few months ago, when Google Ads added an exciting new pop-up ad feature (“vignette ads”, as it would prefer they to be called) that resulted in a surge in both revenue and user complaints. Responding to the latter has meant forsaking the former, and ad revenue has duly returned to where it was before, i.e. nowhere. So better to do away with them altogether and ask doubly nicely for reader contributions (albeit that these too are not what they used to be).

• I’ve been working especially hard for my diminishing earnings of late, thanks to two state elections. Much of this effort has been devoted to my acclaimed live election results features – including the one I have ready to go for tomorrow’s state election in Tasmania, which you can acquaint yourself with here.

• Resolving technical issues that caused the were causing the site to go offline intermittently a few weeks ago involved considerable hassle and a certain amount of expenditure, for which regular users in particular might think me deserving of a contribution.