How to vote in the House of Representatives ballot.

[Mythor]

(note: You may reproduce this elsewhere if you wish. Please credit me and provide a link to MOSH if you do so. Thanks.)


The system in place for the election of members for the House of Representatives is known as the "Preferential System" of polling. It is, for the most part, one of the best systems to handle a multi-party vote.

One of the most common misconceptions about the Preferential system is to do with the so called "preferences". People are under the mistaken impression, reinforced by the media, that the preference deals done between parties can mean that a vote for the Greens party could result in your vote being added to the Liberal party vote.
This is completely untrue, as I will attempt to explain.

When you arrive at the polling booths, you will be asked for your name and given two pieces of paper. One is for the Senate (a much more complicated system) and one is for the House of Representatives.
The House paper is the one explained here and is the section of Parliament that John Howard, Mark Latham, Peter Costello and such are a part of.

On the House of Representatives voting form, you will have a list of names, with a series of boxes alongside, one box per candidate.
Examine the list of names carefully. You will need to number every box, from 1-X (where X is the total number of candidates) in order to make best use of your vote.

Pick the candidate you would most like to have represent you at the Federal level. In the corresponding box, write the number "1".
That is where the "Vote 1 - Candidate X" comes from.

Next, find the candidate you would most prefer to represent you, assuming your "1" choice does not receive enough votes to be elected. In your second preferences box, write the number "2".

After that, choose the next candidate you would be most happy with and write "3" in their box, "4" in the next, and so on, until your boxes are all numbered correctly.

If you make a mistake in your numbering, return to the voting desk, say you made a mistake and ask if you may have another voting slip. (Addition from Spoofy: The person at the desk will likely tell you to simply cross out the incorrect number and write the correct number beside it. Note from Mythor: Be sure the new number is clearly in the same style as the other numbers, as overzealous polling officials may disqualify votes that appear to have been tampered with. Take your time!)

At the end of polling, all the slips are gathered together and the tally begins.

Let's assume that there are five candidates, all conveniently have the same last name as the party they represent - Liberal, Labor, Democrat, Green and Independent.
Assume you have voted: 1 Independent, 2 Green, 3 Democrat, 4 Labor, 5 Liberal.
The initial tally is as follows:
Ind.: 100
Green: 200
Dem.: 300
Labor: 400
Liberal: 500

This gives the Liberal party 500 of the 1500 total votes. A candidate needs a "simple majority" to be elected. This means that they need to receive 50% of the votes, plus one extra vote. In this example that would be 750 (50%) + 1, or 751 votes, which would leave a maximum of 749 other votes available.

As the current leader has not achieved a simple majority, the system dictates that the candidate with the least number of votes must have their votes redistributed.
This is where your "preferences", the numbered boxes beyond "1", come into play.
In this example, your vote was one of the initial 100 for the Independent candidate, so your vote is now directed to your "2" box - the Green candidate.
We'll assume that the people who voted for the Independent candidate have evenly split their "2" preference between the Greens and Democrats, which would leave the tally standing at:
Green: 250
Dem.: 350
Labor: 400
Liberal: 500

Again you can see that the Liberal party has the highest number of votes, but it is still not a majority of the vote. So the preferential system needs to distribute the lowest number of votes again. This means, in this instance, that the Greens candidate has their votes distributed. 50 of the people who now have votes counted for the Green candidate are people who voted for the Independent candidate as #1 and Green as #2. This means that their votes now need to go to their #3 choice. The original 200 Green voters will mostly go to their #2 choice, unless it was a vote for the Independent, in which case it also goes to #3.
Your vote goes to the Democrats candidate, as that was who you listed at #3.

We'll assume that most Green voters would prefer a Democrat candidate over one of the "Major Parties" and that the few who don't will prefer Labor over Liberal. 175 of the Green voters votes go to the Democrats, whilst 75 go to Labor.
The tally, after redistribution, stands at:
Dem.: 525
Labor: 475
Liberal: 500

Whilst Labor had been running second for much of the redistribution, you can now see how the preferences have come into play. No side has a clear majority at this point, the Liberals have actually lost the lead and because there is no clear majority, Labor votes are about to be redistributed.
Some Labor voters would prefer one of the major parties before voting for any of the minor parties, but most of them in this instance have chosen to put the Democrats as a preference before the Liberals. 300 Labor votes get distributed to the Democrat candidate, 175 go to the Liberals.

Final tally:
Dem.: 825
Liberal: 675

As mentioned before, 751 or higher is enough to give the election to that party, so the Democrats win. Whilst your vote has not helped your most preferred candidate win, it has been counted towards the Democrats win, not towards the Liberal party.

You'll note that at no point was there any mention of "the leaders of the Green party have chosen to send their votes to the Democrats". In the House of Representatives ballot, that cannot happen. Whatever order you number the boxes is the only order in which your votes can go. The so called "preference deals" do not matter a jot, so long as you go in there and vote as you want.
You can choose to take a "How To Vote" card from your preferred candidate and follow that if you wish - those cards typically reflect the preference deals in play. However, your vote is no less valuable if you do not follow those instructions. Provided you number all the boxes correctly, your vote will count, and will only count for who you choose.

One tip that people may find useful is that if you want to ensure that your vote does not, under any circumstances, go to a particular candidate, is to number that candidate as the LAST number available. If there were ten candidates, for example, you should list that person at number 10. This will mean that even if the preferences need to be distributed numerous times, the "worst" that can happen is your vote will go to the person you list at number 9. Generally, it will not go that far, but it is something that is good to know.

If you are voting for the "incumbent" candidate (the person who currently represents your seat in Parliament) then it is probable that voting for them will mean your vote will not be redistributed to someone else. However, it is still important that you number all the boxes correctly, just in case there is a surprising shift in public voting.

Never feel like your vote is "a waste" and thus it doesn't matter if you deliberately stuff it up. As detailed above, even a single vote could ensure victory for a candidate. If the vote is all tied up with each candidate only having 50% of the vote, with just your vote to go, how would you feel if they announced that the election for your seat needed to be held again because you'd written "Mickey Mouse" as your vote?

Voting is a privilege we enjoy, not a chore. Many countries do not have the right to vote, or worse, only have "sham" elections. Please treat voting with the respect it deserves and make your vote count on October 9th.

[VAxwell]

You just want Natasha Stott Despoija as Prime Minister. *grins*

For a greener nation - VOTE FICUS!!

[Mythor]

Natasha is a Senator, not a member of the House of Representatives.
I don't know if that makes her ineligible for Prime Ministership? But since the Democrats aren't going to win a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, it's a moot point.

(I'd vote Latham #1 for PM and Nat #2, though. )

[lily]

please please PLEASE enrol to vote, if you haven't already done so.

let's see if we can rid the nation of the scourge of the maggot-with-eyebrows

[Spoofy]

If any newbies want any more tips on voting and what happens when you get to the booth itself, I am more than happy to answer the questions.

I have worked about 7 polling booths over the years, and am working one this year as well, and we get a lot of first timers coming in looking very very lost.

It can be scary the first time, but it needn't be.

[GentleZephyr]

Thanks for the explanation. It's really helped.

[comicalmay]

I had my first voting turn this year... really wished I had come on here first. Much easier to understand than my father.

[Starr]

Elections are so much fun i didnt even vote in the last one and it was worth the $20 i just didnt care about it at all its not like little stupid johnny was getting back in anyway lol.
It was too hot i was too tired and was too stressed about going to nsw.

[Spoofy]

oh so you are one of the 40,000 odd people I've had to send "apparent non voters" letters too.

Great!!! thanks for keeping me employed

[Starr]

Originally Posted by Spoofy

oh so you are one of the 40,000 odd people I've had to send "apparent non voters" letters too.

Great!!! thanks for keeping me employed

Hey no worries anytime. But i'll definatley be voting next time. When i drove to the post office to pay my fine i got a speeding ticket driving through the school zone. un beknownst to me the school zone wasnt between 2-4pm like i thought most were but 8am to the end of the day thats what i get for not voting

[Spoofy]

Originally Posted by Starr

Hey no worries anytime. But i'll definatley be voting next time. When i drove to the post office to pay my fine i got a speeding ticket driving through the school zone. un beknownst to me the school zone wasnt between 2-4pm like i thought most were but 8am to the end of the day thats what i get for not voting

I know I shouldn't laugh but thats called FATE!!!!