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He totally revamped the traditional modality of the humble ballot and turned voting into a fully auditable process whereby electoral officers could not discard or replace or alter ballots. Malcolm introduced numbered ballots that were in triplicate whereby electors receive a copy of the vote that they cast and ballots were completed in pen and not pencils.
These notions whilst simple on the surface but had not previously been done in any jurisdiction in the world, not even Switzerland. At one stage Malcolm volunteered as a polling official in Western Australia in 2008 in one of his Referenda, and was impressed at the professional conduct of the voting booth, the ease of vote facilitation and the attention to detail and accuracy.
Direct Democracy taken to the polls.
Malcolm then put his work to paper and drafted unique legislation named the ‘Direct Democracy Act 1998. In late 1998 he took his invention and Direct Democracy to the polls as a candidate in three elections in Victoria. Firstly as a Senate Candidate and shortly thereafter as a candidate for Melbourne North Province and then Frankston East District.
Three elections in about as many months is a hard haul for anyone, even with political and financial backing, but especially difficult for a self-funded independent. Malcolm was unlike any other candidate especially in the light of his hand drafted legislation ready to be put before parliament as a private members bill.
The Battle against political discrimination: Denial of the ‘Above the line vote’
The 1998 election for the senate raises particular concerns for Malcolm because of relatively new laws that stopped independent candidates from having access to the ‘above the line vote’ which Malcolm says is “…a blatant discrimination against independent candidates and ultra vires our Australian Constitution”
The new laws effectively denied to independents 96% of the vote, since in order to vote for a particular independent, the voter must complete the entire ballot “below the line” and mark all the boxes, which is an option only done by about 4% of voters. The much simple and quicker above the line vote is given to political parties and sitting independent Members of Parliament effectively denying to independents 96% of the vote.
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