Dodgy election guides trying to dupe voters into supporting Labor, Greens

An investigation has uncovered two popular vote compasses being pitched to Australians online and outside polling booths that have dodgy methodology skewed to left-leaning parties.

Blatantly biased voting compasses are being used to trick Australians into voting for Labor and the Greens as the electoral watchdog warns it’s powerless against dodgy websites being promoted at pre-poll and online.

An investigation by this masthead has uncovered two popular vote compasses being pitched to Australians online and outside polling booths that have dodgy methodology skewed to left-leaning parties.

One compass — Vote Guide — tells voters who answer in line with Liberal policies that they should vote for Labor and the Greens while another — Build-a-Ballot — leaves out key Coalition promises to voters to make Greens policies look more appealing.

Adam Bandt, Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese get very mixed results in the ‘voting guides’.

A team of reporters trialled Voteguide.com.au and voted in line with Coalition policies and was told they had strong alignment with the Labor Party and the Greens.

In one example, a responder said they strongly disagreed with the government prioritising renewable energy over coal mining, strongly disagreed with the need for a constitutional Voice to parliament, and strongly agreed with the need for offshore detention for asylum seekers.

The same responder rated Peter Dutton 10/10 on competence and trustworthiness, Pauline Hanson 10/10, Anthony Albanese 0/10 and Adam Bandt 0/10.

Despite this, they were told they had 95 per cent alignment with the Labor Party.

Suspect voting 'guides' are recommending even conservatives vote for Labor or the Greens.

The party claims the following on its site: “Providing clear, unbiased insights into Australian politics through rigorous analysis and evidence-based research.”

A second tool, Build a Ballot from climate action group Project Planet was pitched by its founders as a tool to “help people do their own research, cut through the noise of the current headlines, and really engage with Australia’s political system”.

Peter Dutton and Manny Cicchiello, the Liberal candidate for the Division of Aston, visit a petrol station pushing the Coalition’s cost of living measures which include a big fuel discount. (Photo by Dan Peled/Getty Images)

But analysis of the tool by this masthead has revealed it blatantly leaves out Coalition policies while spruiking policies from the Greens and Labor.

A question on cost of living policies includes Greens policies like rent caps and taxing big corporations and a crackdown on super markets which is supported by all three mainstream parties — but the only Coalition cost of living policy included is a cut to public servants.

One of the questions in the ‘voting guide’.

This is despite the Coalition’s main cost of living policies being the widely pitched 25 cent fuel excise reduction and a $1200 tax cut.

A healthcare question again lists multiple Labor and Greens policies but not the Coalition’s commitment to double Medicare subsidised psychology sessions.

When this masthead used the Western Sydney seat of Chifley to assess the different candidates, the summary of policies included for the Coalition is 14 policies with key commitments like tax cuts and fuel excise not included.

By comparison, 33 policies are included for the Greens and 21 policies are included for Labor.

The party alignments presented in one of the results.

In an extraordinary admission, a Build a Ballot spokesman said they created the tool before a lot of policies were announced and before the federal budget and budget reply.

“Because of the nature of this tool, we finalised the policies included before a range of policies were announced including the Coalition’s 25c fuel excise reduction, Labor’s tax cut policy, and the Green’s solar for renters plan,” she said.

Labor’s $5 tax cuts and the Coalition’s fuel excise were announced in the budget and subsequent budget reply — both before the federal campaign had even begun.

The Australian Electoral Commission said they had launched a “stop and consider campaign” to urge Australians to reconsider the resources they use and if they are biased.

A question asks whether the death penalty, which does not exist in Australia, should be abolished.

They said authorisation statements on both compasses should be used to discern the content.

“The onus has always been on the voter to maintain a healthy level of scepticism,” they said.

“There are no laws regarding truth in political communication.”

Redbridge pollster Kos Samaras said platforms like the ones mentioned are “super politically interested” but no match for Gen Z.

“Young people are savvy and Gen Z are the most cynical about politics,” he said.

“Those gimmicks were really well with Boomers … but they are already locked in (on their views).”

VoteGuide was contacted for a comment.

Originally published as Dodgy election guides trying to dupe voters into supporting Labor, Greens