donkey voter

English

Alternative forms

• donkey-voter

Etymology

From donkey vote +‎ -er (agent noun suffix).

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

donkey voter (plural donkey voters)

1. (Australia) A voter who casts a donkey vote.
   • 1963, Nation, numbers 110-134, page 83:

     One is the donkey vote, which is thought to account for three per cent. of all votes cast. Donkey voters mark their papers one-two-three straight down the ticket.

   • 1967, Raewyn Connell, Florence Gould, Politics of the Extreme Right: Warringah 1966, page 89:

     We can estimate the numbers of donkey voters because the ALP Senate candidate Healy headed the Senate list at the same election.

   • 1983, Leslie Finlay Crisp, Australian National Government‎^[1], page 219:

     The Senate vote for any party in any State will benefit from a ‘windfall’ from the ‘donkey voters’ (ie those who vote straight down and across the ballot) if that party wins the first place on the ballot paper — which is decided by lot.