Mayo by-election, February 2020

The Mayo By-Election, February 2020, is a by-election triggered by the resignation of former Liberal MP Lieseltaa in the Division of Mayo, which stretches across all of South Australia. It was held on the 20th February 2020, but delays in the results meant that the final tallies did not come until the following day, the 21st Febraury

Background
The results of the Australian federal election, January 2020, gave the seat of Mayo to the Liberals under Lieseltaa, unseating long time MP for the reigion MattMonti of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) by a slim margin. However, just under halfway into their term as MP for the electorate, Lieseltaa resigned from their seat, citing mental health issues as their reason for resigning the seat.

Candidates and their Policies
On the 10th February 2020, SDP member MattMonti, a former MP for Mayo for 2.5 terms, teased he would be running for the seat with his campaign team releasing an Ad titled "Matt's Coming Home"; however, MattMonti would not officially join the race until the campaigning was officially opened on the 12th of February. He launched his campaign with three key policies initially announced in his fiest rally in Port Adelaide: his unwavering and continued supporting for the LGBTIQ+ rights in Australia, including the LGBTIQ+ apology, and increase of funding for regional healthcare, and his desire to keep South Australia as a part of the nation of Australia. His campaign then switched focus away from the speeches and rallies of his fellow candidates, and instead begun to put up a series of billboards across the state. The first of these, launched on the 13th, supported MattMonti and told the people of his policies, while the second batch (released on the 15th) attacked BloodyChrome for his supposed hypocrisy: he was a formerly vocal critic of the Liberal party now running for that party.

He was closely followed by the Labor candidate Explosivo2002, a newcomer to both the Labor Party and the political scene as a whole, who announced his entering of the election shortly after the writs were issued on the 12th. His campaign focused primarily around the failings of the Nationals and the Liberals in many aspects of life that affected the people of Mayo, as well as reforms to healthcare, protecting the unions, and incentives and grants programs to help farmers in rural Mayo: a program he labelled 'AusToWork', or ATW. In his first appearance in the state on the 13th, Explosivo2002 reiterated both his and his parties support for the LGBTIQ+ apology and LGBTIQ+ rights, as well as establishing his support for extra funding and support for in-home care for elderly residents of not only Mayo, but the rest of the nation as well. His next campaign stop was in Mount Gambier on the 15th, the first rally by a candidate outside of Greater Adelaide, where he focused on both his and Labor's support for holding the government and politicians as a whole accountable through an anti-corruption commission and more openness in the political donations for every party and candidate.

The last candidate to enter the race on the 12th was the Liberty Reform candidate Plupsnup, who entered the race shortly before he held a rally in Whitmore Square in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia and key city in the electorate of Mayo. His campaign focused on the abolishment of the GST and replacing it with one based upon the value of land, the redistribution of wealth, and pushing for a referendum on South Australian independence. He went on door-to-door tour of the 13th, introducing his legislation to the people of Military Road in Port Adelaide, and bring more voters to his cause.

In the early hours of the morning on the 13th of February, the Nationals entered their candidate, My13InchDuck, into the race with a poster outlining the economic stance of the Nationals and their candidate, which many residents of the electorate woke up to on social media and put up across the region. On the posters, he spoke of his belief in a free market economy, as well as the need for the economy needing to work for the common people, instead of the other way around.

The last candidate to join the race was the Liberal hopeful for the seat of Mayo: BloodyChrome. He opened his campaigning in Elder Hall at Adelaide University on the 15th of February (the last day for candidate registration), and his initial launch speech focused in on a few core pillars: improving the economy of South Australia, upgrading the infrastructure of the region to the tune of hundreds of millions, and a pledge to continue investment in the healthcare sector of the state.

Controversies and Goings Ons
The 2020 By-Election in Mayo was hardly devoid of controversies between the candidates, with tensions flaring up even on the first day of the campaign in the electorate; tensions that would continue throughout the electoral process.

The South Australia Independence Referendum
During his rally on the 12th of February, Plupsnup (the Liberty Reform candidate) spoke of his desire to introduce a referendum on whether South Australia should secede from the Commonwealth. This drew criticism from all other parties, with Nine News tweeting "...he said he is neutral on the issue. This seems odd given people only ever announce their support for a referendum on something if they support what the referendum is trying to achieve." Labor candidate Explosivo2002 also took to Twitter, stating that "Plupsnup should learn that to be a firebrand populist, your leading policy... should be actually popular". However, despite his disdain for a policy, Explosivo2002 announced his support for the referendum if the people of Mayo willed it, saying in his rally on the 13th that "I do not wish for this great nation to lose a state... However, I am also a firm believer in popular sovereignty... that is why, if ever a movement for South Australia independence were to grow large enough, I would support the will of the people and would push for a referendum to let the people of this state decide..."

The Great Film Twitter Battle
At around 6pm on the 13th of February, Social Democrat candidate MattMonti posted a meme on Twitter, comparing the closing scene of Toy Story 3 to his own relationship with the SDP government, given he himself lost his seat as the party he headed moved on to new beginnings and to form government. However, Labor candidate Explosivo2002 poked fun at his caption which stated "Just like Toy Story, I can't be stopped", pointing out that as only 4 Toy Story films existed and he has already served 2 and a half terms, then he should only be expected to serve another term and a half before to make as many terms in Mayo as there are Toy Story films.

However, the controversy came when Matt pointed out that he was the only Mayo MP in the last decade to deliver a Toy Story film, which the Labor candidate countered by saying his tenure had also produced the film 'Cats'; a film often considered one of the worst in the history of film by many critics. However, the Labor candidate was called out by many people on Twitter later in the day, including MattMonti himself, who pointed out that Cats was released on the 26th of December 2019, while MattMonti had left office on the 20th.

When this controversy in terms of dates came to be, Explosivo2002 Tweeted later that evening apologising for his mistake, attributing the mistake to fact checkers being wrong, and instead attacking the recently released Sonic the Hedgehog film, and stating of the former Member of Mayo that "...his film record only remains tainted by all the film's John Travolta has released during his time in office.'

Nationals Ad for the 13th of February
Around 8:30pm on the 13th of February, the National Party released a campaign ad that was run in the electorate of Mayo and posted on their offical Youtube and Facebook pages titled 'They Just Don't Care", aimed towards the SDP. However, almost immediately, the add drew criticism for certain attacks contained within the add: a few of the key ones were highlighted by the SDP candidate MattMonti in a tweet less than 30 minutes later, and by Nine News in a tweet shortly after the ad was announced."'The New Nationals Ad playing in SA claims the SDP 'likes to kill babies'. That is beyond politics and is just a disgusting slur, and I demand an apology from @The Hon.LOTO Riley8583 and @The Hon. Griffo, Cowper MP, for their disgusting add' -MattMonti, Former MP of Mayo"The ad sparked a fierce debate over abortion rights between the candidates and the major party leaders on Twitter for a few hours that night. Labor candidate for Mayo attacked the Nationals as "downright horrifying" and "a party without remorse", the LRP candidate Plupsnup announced "I support abortion for any reason", Member for Brisbane BabyYodaVevo highlighted her OzCare plan would support all reproductive rights for women, SocialistAcid called the ad "the most un-Australian thing I have seen today", and the Member for Cowper, Griffo, announced his plans to introduce legislation against the murder of unborn children, and supported his fellow Nationals members actions in putting that line into the ad.

The Nationals Against Nine News
On the 15th February, following an expose by Nine News against the National Party, Nationals Leader and Member for Sydney Riley 8583 issues a press release, wherin he accused the network of being "too focused on delivering government pushed propaganda", and criticised their supposed "attempts to undermine our democracy".

Less than half an hour later, the official Nine News Twitter account criticised the attack by the nationals, pointing out that "perhaps they should learn the job of media is to hold all MP's accountable, including the Nationals", and directing the LOTO towards the Daily Boomerang if he wished to see partisan material. However, there would be no formal or informal response from the Nationals Party.

However, the conflict was not over. On the 17th, the Nine Network issues an article throughout their affiliated papers titled 'Griffo, My13InchDuck, and 94a - Can Australia afford another Nationals MP?', which drew comparisons between controversial MP for Cowper Griffo and their candidate in Mayo My13InchDuck. However, here the conflict would spill over into the political parties.

Firstly, the LOTO Riley8583 criticised the Nine Network as "the media wing of the SDP"; a comparison which immediately drew criticism from the Prime Minister, who tweeted the Leader of the Opposition about his 'hypocrisy'. His accusation centred around the Daily Boomerang, a news source often associated with pro-Nationals news. However, the leader of the Labor Party Lucifer Morningstar also joined in, criticising both sides of the argument due to their false belief that "there is an unbiased media source that exists". After this, the war between party and media would die down again for a period of time, save for a few follow up tweets by various Nine News and SDP members stating much the same the Prime Minister had earlier.

The Entrance of BloodyChrome
Around Midday on the 15th of February, the Liberal Party announced their candidate in the Mayo election would be former Parliamentarian BloodyChrome, who was formerly the leader of the United Democratic Party: a fact his opponents did not fail to notice. 2 hours after the announcement, MattMonti of the SDP took to Twitter to decry the choice, noting in his tweet how BloodyChrome had been a staunch critic of the Liberals during his time in Canberra, and how he was disappointed in the decision by the former parliamentarian.

But this wouldn't be the only time this major issue was brought up during the election.

The HTV Cards
Once HTV cards were beginning to be released on the 19th of February, a few heated exchanges occurred between the candidates across all platforms of communications. The first of these brought about the most criticism and attention, as once the LRP preferences were released (with the Liberals surprisingly ahead of the SDP and Labor), MattMonti and Nine News in separate tweets accused the LRP of being "fascist sympathisers": the Liberal party being the 'fascists' spoken of, as confirmed by MattMonti in his first tweet.

However, the Labor Leader and Deputy PM Lucifer Morningstar went against his Coalition partner, speaking on the ridiculousness of calling the Liberals fascists simply because their policies lay more to the right then the SDP and, by extension, the desperation in calling the LRP fascist sympathisers. MattMonti returned fire, speaking of how the Member for Cowper, Griffo, once called himself a fascist: a point later refuted by the MP in another tweet.

Further names joined in on the Twitter battles, with the LRP Leader and Mayo Candidate Plupsnup reaffirming his anti-fascist and anti-extremism positions by attacking the Nationals as "being run by fascists", followed a few hours later by Labor candidate for Mayo Explosivo2002 decrying the idea of "calling them (the Liberals and Nationals) when actual fascists LITERALLY MURDERED PEOPLE really is taking political insults to a new level"

Prior to Election Day
The first issues with the By-Election only became apparent on the day of the election; that being the lack of any AEC-sanctioned polling before the electorate headed to the ballot box. This was a first for Australian politics in decades, and meant that all candidates and parties had no idea where they stood in terms of the electorate, which in turn impacted the HTV cards, as they couldn't be adapted dependent on who were the leading candidates as they may have been in other elections.

On Election Day
The major issues that plagued the Mayo By-Election occurred towards the middle of the 20th, when the AEC issued a press release saying that the results would be delayed by a few hours due to a few administrative issues, with no definitive time cited for when the results would be released.

However, the issues would only be exacerbated by another announcement two hours after the original 7pm AEST deadline. This statement spoke of how the current Head Moderator of the election was incapacitated (although no elaboration was given), and that his replacement Toby was having to be flown into the AEC headquarters to continue the counting, delaying the election results further; unfortunately, once again there was no announcement as when to results could be expected. Ultimately, the results wouldn't come through to the public and the media until the morning of the following day, the 21st February.

Morning
Election day begun slowly, at least in comparison to the rest of the election up until that point. MattMonti was the first to get on social media, thanking the MP for Moncrieff, Zak, for his endorsement the previous day. There was no major political activity beyond this, save for a tweet by the Labor candidate Explosivo2002 reminding those attending rallies and voting of the importance of sunscreen: a fact his tweet implied he had forgotten.

Afternoon and Evening
The Afternoon began with a bang, as an unexpected visit to the state by the LOTO Riley8583 was announced: his plan was tour polling boots in and around the Nationals HQ in Mount Gambier, where he would join their candidate My13InchDuck and the Member for Cowper, both of whom were already in the state. Indeed, the Member for Cowper would tweet only 2 hours later a picture of him with LGBTIQ+ volunteers in the state, with a caption relating to having made good friends with people from the other parties, likely hinting towards those registered with the SDP.

The next surprise was issues at around 5:15pm AEST, when the Labor candidate Explosivo2002 announced that he and some of his core supporters would be at the Wheatshead Hotel in Adelaide from 6pm onwards to "partake in the traditions of Hawke": due to the delays in the electoral results, he would remain at this pub until the early hours of the morning, drinking and talking with many Labor supporters.

The last major announcement of the day was from the SDP candidare MattMonti, who like with all his electoral campaigns announced his party to be held on Commercial Road in Port Adelaide; however, seemingly wanting to siphon people from the Labor party, he announced that, regardless of result, they had a good night planned, which seemed like an open invitation to those of other parties.