| How the quota system works |
| Voting
for the Legislative Council Voting
for the New South Wales Legislative Council The candidates for a Legislative Council election are the same for the whole state. Method of voting The method of voting for the Legislative Council is known as “optional preferential proportional representation” and is prescribed in the sixth schedule to the NSW Constitution Act 1902. The names of the candidates are shown on the ballot paper. If endorsed by a registered political party their affiliation with that party is also shown. A Group must comprise at least 15 candidates before it can have a Group Voting Square above the thick black line. Candidates not included in a group are shown in a column on the extreme right of the ballot paper. These are generally referred to as the “Ungrouped Candidates”. The Group or Party determines the order of candidates within their group on the ballot paper, but the position of the Group or Party is determined by a draw conducted by the Electoral Commissioner who is the Returning Officer for the election. You may vote in one of two ways: "ABOVE THE LINE" You may vote: - by placing the number '1' in one of the Group Voting squares located above the thick black line on the ballot paper. This will record a vote for the first candidate in that group with the preferences going to the other candidates in that Group or - by placing the number ‘1’ in a Group Voting Square then marking a second or subsequent preference in other Group Voting squares above the line. In this case you will have indicated preferences for candidates in the second and subsequent groups for the candidates in those groups in the order they appear on the ballot paper. "BELOW THE LINE" Persons voting below the line must select their own order of preferences by placing the numbers '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10', '11', '12', '13', '14', '15' in the squares next to the names of 15 candidates in order of their preference for them. Persons can vote for additional candidates by placing consecutive numbers beginning with the number '16' in the squares next to the names of those additional candidates in order of their preference for them. Counting the votes In order to be elected, candidates generally need to obtain a quota (about 4.5%) of the total formal votes cast in an election. The quota is determined by using a formula set out in the electoral legislation. Those candidates who receive a number of first preference votes that is equal to or greater than this quota are elected. The quota figure remains the same for the whole count. Any votes a candidate receives above the quota are known as surplus votes and may be transferred to the remaining candidates according to the next available preference shown on them. A transfer value (using a formula set out in legislation) is applied to the distributed votes generally with a value less than 1. The ballot papers being transferred are selected at random. If there are no more surplus votes to transfer ( or subject to other conditions in the count), but not all 21 Members have been elected, the ballot papers of the candidate with the lowest number of votes are transferred according to the next available preference shown on them. A transfer value is not applied to votes transferred at this stage and thus the votes have full value, that is, a value of 1. The process continues until all 21 Members of the Legislative Council have been elected. Source: NSW State Electoral Office 1 Proportional
representation .
Except in Tasmania, few voters exercise their right to choose between candidates, most being content to follow party how-to-vote cards. The introduction of above the line ticket voting from 1988 has also seen political parties gain greater control over the distribution of preferences. How
votes are counted 2
Calculation
of the quota
In NSW, because only 10 preferences have been required for a formal vote, many votes "exhaust" at the point where no further valid preferences are indicated on the ballot paper. As a result, it is possible for a candidate to be elected with less than a quota. For instance, in both 1981 and 1984, with one vacancy to be filled and only two candidates remaining in the count, the high number of exhausted preferences resulted in the final vacancy being filled by the candidate with the highest remaining vote. In 1995, 21 members
were elected for the first time. If 21 members had been elected in 1991,
the quota would have been: In NSW, the method by which votes are transferred is a random sampling of ballot papers, followed by their physical transfer to the 'pile' of another candidate. This sampling is greatly simplified by the earlier classification of primary votes into ticket and block votes. Parts of this section
are based on notes provided on pp 33-135 of the Statistical Returns for
the 1991 Legislative Council election.
The
Legislative Council, 2000
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____________________________________________ NSW
State Electoral Office How
votes are counted |
