Australian Electoral System

The Australian electoral system varies between the different states and federally.

Federal
At the federal level, there are two levels of parliament - the House of Representatives; the lower-house, and the Senate; the upper-house.

House of Reps
In the House of Representatives - the voting system is known as preferential voting and is based within individual single-member constituencies. In order for a vote to be declared valid, the boxes must be numbered from 1 to however many candidates there are boxes on the ballot paper - where 1 is the first preferred candidate, 2 is the second preferred candidate and so on.

When it comes to counting, the votes are counted and tallied - the results for each individual candidate at the end of the first round of vote counting are known as the primary vote. Once the first round of vote counting is completed and there are more than two candidates, the candidate with the least number of votes is excluded, and preferences distributed to the second preferred candidate according to how each individual voting paper is marked (second round of vote counting)''. ''

After preferences are distributed on the second count described above, the candidate with the next-least amount of votes is excluded, and preferences distributed to the next preferred candidate according to how the ballot papers are marked. If the second preferred candidate is already excluded for a particular ballot paper - then that vote will transfer to the third preferred candidate, or forth if the third is already excluded, etc. This process continues until there are two candidates remaining.

Common misconceptions include the dreaded preference deals you may hear about in the media leading up to an election. This applies in the Senate to some extent, but not the House of Reps. Another common-misconception is that people elect Prime Minister directly - people elect the local member of their constituency, not the Prime Minister (unless the Prime Minister is also their local member of a voter's constituency and the voter votes for him/her.)

The Senate
In the Senate - the voting system is the single-transferable vote. Voters can either number one box above the line for their preferred group or political party (ticket), or they can number every single box from 1 to however many candidates there are below the line. Due to the fact that senate papers can be ridiculously large - most voters prefer to number above the line (and whinge about preference deals afterwards).

For ballot papers numbered above the line - individual political parties and groups are able to determine where preferences flow to should they be excluded in the counts. Below the line ballots are distributed to candidates similar as described for the House of Representatives.

When it comes to voting, the primary votes are tallied. The first 3 or 4 candidates, usually from the major parties, usually gain enough votes (and quotas - 14.3% of the vote) to be successful. The first candidate elected is at the top of the group ticket with the highest number of total votes, with 14.3% of the vote taken away from that ticket. The second successful candidate is the candidate at the top of the group ticket with the second highest vote, and so on until all groups have less than one quota, or 14.3% of the vote.

If no group has a full quota and not all seats are filled, the process of elimination begins. The group ticket with the least number of votes is excluded, and votes transfer to the group/s the eliminated group indicates (votes marked under the line are transferred to the group the voter indicated). This process of elimination continues until all seats are filled.