Category: General

Time for the Poll Bludger’s donation drive, conducted at the end of every second month to squeeze some extra generosity out of the site’s valued and loyal supporters. Donations can be made through the “become a supporter” buttons at the top of the page and at the bottom of each post.

This also works as an occasion to update what I’m up to, which at present is all about the New South Wales state election on March 25. The usual comprehensive election guide is at a well advanced and state and should be published in a couple of weeks, and my live results architecture is now running smoothly enough (recent example: Saturday’s supplementary election for Narracan in Victoria) that I can guarantee it will be in service on the big night.

For those of you seeking directions to the routine general discussion thread, it can be found here, just under the post immediately below on the changes in leadership for Western Australia’s Liberals and Nationals.

This site ordinarily runs donation drive posts every two months, but the occasion of tomorrow’s Victorian state election demands a special edition. In particular, you may feel a contribution is in order due to the effort and, to a not completely trivial extent, expense involved in publishing my live results system, about which you can read more in the post below. Donations can be made through the “become a supporter” buttons at the top of the page and at the bottom of each post.

Every two months, this site sends out an appeal for donations, which can be made through the “become a supporter” buttons at the top of the page and the bottom of each post. Things I’ve done to deserve it lately include publishing one of the site’s famous election guides, for the looming Victorian state election on November 26. Naturally the site will be working at a high pitch leading up to this event, which should hopefully include publication of live results on the night (see my federal election results display for an idea of how that will look).

While we’re at the top of the page, note that three new posts have newly added to the blog, including:

• A review of last night’s Newspoll, including an effort to put its budget response numbers in historic context;

• A 1500-word epic on latest developments ahead of the New South Wales election in March;

• A post from regular guest Adrian Beaumont on today’s crucial presidential run-off election in Brazil.

Every two months, this site sends out an appeal for donations, which can be made through the “become a supporter” buttons at the top of the page and the bottom of each post. It’s been a particularly lean month on this score, so if you’re one of those who throws in a few bob intermittently, now would be a particularly welcome time for it. The level of behind-the-scenes activity is starting to crank up as the November 26 Victorian state election looms into view, to be followed not so long after by the New South Wales election on March 25, so continue watching this space for the site’s famous seat-by-seat election guides and live results features.

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. This is usually accompanied with a spiel about how especially deserving I am at this particular point in time. On this occasion I need only point to the immense amount of work I’ve been putting in of late, having composed 32 posts in the 40 days since the federal election, very few of which simply involved rattling off poll numbers. While I probably won’t keep up exactly that level of productivity forever, it does reflect a determination going forwards to maintain a steady flow of substantive posts with issue-specific discussion threads.

Even amidst the post-election poll drought, Australian politics should provide no shortage of material in the coming months, with two or maybe even three state by-elections in the offing, and what promises to be one of the most interesting state elections in recent history in Victoria come November. A by-election for the South Australian seat of Bragg will be held this Saturday, allowing another workout for my now finely tuned live results facility (last seen in action a fortnight ago at Queensland’s Callide by-election, and of course last month at the federal election), which will also be in action at the Victorian election.

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.