Electoral mendacity

On 1 November 2006 I stated on ABC Radio National that, unlike the United States, Australian elections are not characterised 'by allegations of mismanagement, partiality and all kinds of chicanery'. What a silly old duffer am I. Since Prime Minister Howard announced the election date, we have witnessed an avalanche of commentary about citizens being excluded from the electoral roll, uncertainty about when the roll closed for different classes of people and concern at what effects this might have in the polling booths on 24 November 2007. Welcome back to Florida 2000.