South Australian Elections: make your vote count!

(see link to voter guides at bottom of this page)  SA voters will go to the polls on March 15th to elect a government for the next four years.
 
No matter who ultimately forms government, the issue of euthanasia is likely to rear its head again fairly soon after.
 
It is imperative that, where possible, we vote to support candidates who do not support euthanasia.
HOPE conducted the survey below over the four weeks prior to the election. We emailed as many candidates as possible - most on three occasions - looking for an answer to the following question:
 
In your term in the SA Parliament, will you support the status quo in respect to the laws prohibiting euthanasia and vote against any measures to change the law?
 
Candidates could answer YES (preferred), NO or UNSURE and comments were welcomed.
 
We have also included in our survey report the voting records of existing MPs and, on a few occasions, where a candidate had responded to a euthanasia question from another survey (and not this one).
 
As we have observed in recent elections, the major parties scrutinize all survey requests before allowing candidates to reply. This is a very unfortunate and unwelcome development; particularly as euthanasia is usually a matter of conscience and not party policy. It is understandable (although not welcome) that quite a few candidates from the major parties, therefore, did not reply.
 
Having said that, for the majority of seats, voters who want to try to reduce the number of pro-euthanasia MPs and to stop the possibility of any increase in their numbers do have a real choice.
 
Sadly, this is not the case in the Upper House (Legislative Council). Here only 7 of 63 candidates have a positive (green colour) against their names while 20 are 'in the red'. 11 are marked unsure and 25 candidates did not reply or could not be contacted.
 
It is critical that the UPPER HOUSE results reflect our position. It is in the Legislative Council where the threat of euthanasia will be highest!
 
We recommend…
 
In the Lower House, numbering every box, support candidates marked in green before any other and then apply your best judgement for the remainder.
 
In the Upper House, vote BELOW the LINE, numbering every box and starting with all green candidates before considering any others (put the red candidates last!).
 
NOTE: of course, some candidates who did not answer the survey may well be personally against euthanasia.
 
The survey results:
 
The links below are to downloadable .pdf files which can be printed. You can print them off at home, mark down how you intend to vote, and take them with you to the polling booth.
 
Don't forget - you cast votes on two ballot papers - one in your local electorate and one in the Legislative Council. (Click below to open files)
 
CLICK HERE for more information (link to HOPE website)