Australian Electoral Systems

Textbook Chapter Nine

Fair Elections

There are a number of requirements for elections to be fair and equitable:

All citizens have a right to vote
Elections must be free- not intimidated or presured when voting
Electors voting power must be equal
Nominations for candidates should be as open as possible
Political parties must be treated equally
A majority of votes must result in a majority of seats
Rights of minorities must be respected
No distrotion or manipulation in the conversion of votes into seats
Elections must be regular enough to make government responsive to peoples' will
Elections must be frequent enough to allow electors to have political choice and hold representatives accountable through the ballot box

Australian elections

Australian elections operate to select representatives for the whole country to the Parliament.

The Constitution

The Australian constitution dictates many of the processes of Australian elections including:

Section 24: Members of the House of Representatives have a maximum three year term. Members of the HOR represent a section of Australian society from within their state. NSW has the most seats, and Tasmania has the least.
Section 7: Senators have a six year term. Half of the Senate is elected at the same time as the HOR. All states have equal representation in the Senate, with 12 seats each. The two territories have two seats each.
Both setions dictate that these representatives are chosen 'by the people'.

Calling an Election

The Prime Minister of the day must call an election less than three years after the first sitting day of Parliament. To call an election, the Prime Minister must advise the Governor General to dissolve the House of Representatives. They must then issue writs for a general election. The Governor of each state has the power to issue writs for Senate elections.

Occasionally the two houses of Parliament are deadlocked over legislation. In this case, the Prime Minister can call for a double dissolution election, in which all members of the Parliament are up for election to break the deadlock.

Electoral Systems

Majoritarian Electoral Systems

Majoritarian electoral systems are based one single member electorates. This means that one representative is elected for each electorate.

First Past the Post

First past the post is the simplest form of voting. In order to win an election, a simple majority is required. Electors choose only one option from the ballot paper to vote for.

Preferential Voting

Preferential voting is used to select the House of Representatives in Australia. In preferential voting, candidates require an absolute majority (50%+1), electors number candidates in order of most prefered to least, and if no candidate wins an absolute majority then preferences are distributed until one candidate achieves victory.

House of Representatives Ballot

Proportional Electoral Systems

Proportional systems aim to match the amount of votes received by a party to the amount of seat that they win. They are more complex voting systems. Proportional systems use multi member electorates so that they can allocate different amounts of seats to different political parties.

Single Transferable Vote

In 1949, the Australian Senate changed from preferential voting to a single trasnferable vote. In this system:

A quota is required to win a seat
There is one quota per seat, and more than one seat per electorate
Electors rank candidates (below the line) OR political parties (above the line) in order of preference

Group Ticket Voting

Group ticket voting allows political parties to send the Australian Electoral Commission a pre-determined preference list. This means that electors who want to vote for their party have their preferences automatically allocated to the parties preferences. Voters who want to vote in this way need to vote 'above the line'- see image below.

Senate Ballot Paper

2016 Senate Voting Reforms

Group ticket voting allowed political parties to have a significant impact on the distribution of votes, and it led to candidates with very small numbers of primary votes being elected. In 2016, in order to reduce this impact, reforms to Senate voting came into effect. Group ticket voting was abolished. Voters now have the option to number political parties from 1-6 above the line, or at least 1-12 below the line.

Compulsory Voting

Voting in Federal and State elections in Australia is compulsory. All citizens over the age of 18 must be registered on the electoral roll and must show up to a polling station on election day. Not all democracies force their citizens to vote. For example, just under 70% of US citizens voted in the 2020 presidential election. This means that 30% of Americans did not have a say in who represents the national executive leader.

The Australian Electoral Commission

All elections in Australia are operated by the Australian electoral commission. This means that the people who run the elections are separated from those who stand to benefit from them. The AEC is established by law, and is funded by the government.

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