I am ashamed to admit that I have only just recently put the effort in to learn this. I have known “how to vote” since I was eligible to vote, but have never fully understood:
- Who am I voting for? What do they do?
- How does my vote lead to people getting elected?
There is a lot of information on the internet about this. Too much. This post answers the above questions, in my preferred format of pictures and dot points. Please note that I got super bored reading the many walls of text about this, so there may be mistakes/inaccuracies in this post.
I’ll explain some context first, so if you’re impatient:
Some context: What is the federal government?
- there are 3 levels of government in Australia: federal, state, and local
- the federal government creates & updates laws, and ‘conducts affairs’ that affect the whole nation
- we elect ‘members of parliament’ (MPs) that form the federal government
- the federal parliament is made up of 2 ‘houses’: the upper and lower house, also known as the senate and house of representatives, respectively
The 2 houses exist to keep each other ‘in check’. For example, before one house decides to wage war with China, the other house has a chance to step in and say “that’s probably not a good idea”. The representatives of each house are chosen in different ways, to ensure diversity of opinion.
For more details:
- PEO: 3 levels of government
- NSW parliament: Roles and Responsibilities of Federal, State and Local Governments
- Wikipedia: Bicameralism in Australia (why are there 2 houses)
How to vote for senators (the big ballot paper)
Casting your vote
- you vote for senators to represent your state/territory. Your vote will count towards 12 or 2 senators being elected, depending on whether you’re in a state or territory.
- you rank candidates in order of preference. This can be done by voting either above or below the line. See the image below.
How your vote gets candidates elected
The short video below explains it better than I can. Here’s my attempt, anyway:
- candidates need a quota of votes to be elected
- quota = (total number of valid votes / number of vacancies + 1) + 1
- for example: there are 1300 people in the state, and 12 senators to elect. This means a candidate needs (1300 / 12 + 1) + 1 = 101 votes to be elected.
- first preferences are counted first. If any candidate receives the required quota of first preferences, they are elected. Any ‘surplus’ ballots that have the winning candidate as their first preference get their second preferences distributed to remaining candidates
- if no remaining candidate reaches the quota based on first preferences, then second preferences are counted
- the above process continues, using lower and lower preferences, until the required number of senators have been elected.
Notes
- the above is slightly simplified. The amount your lower preferences contribute depends on which state/territory you’re in.
- if voting below the line, you must choose at least 12 candidates. However, aim for more, since there’s a chance your ballot can become ’exhausted’ - i.e. your preferences don’t count towards any winning candidates. Even if you dislike some candidates/parties, you should still rank them in order of your preference, since this will count towards your ’least disliked’ candidates getting elected.
Sources
How to vote for lower house representatives
Thankfully, this is simpler than the senate.
Casting your vote
- you rank candidates in order of preference
- your vote counts towards a single candidate being elected to represent your electorate
How your vote gets a candidate elected
- to win, a candidate must get an absolute majority
- eg. receives 51% of first preference vote
- if no candidate gets a majority of first preferences, the candidate with lowest number of 1st preferences is eliminated, and the 2nd preference from those votes flow into the remaining candidates
- the above is repeated until one candidate reaches the majority
Image sources
I copied images from these sources: