Political engagement and participation in elections is the cornerstone of Australian democracy.

As a representative democracy Australia holds open and free elections at all levels of government to choose members that will speak and make decisions on behalf of the people. Voting for Australian citizens 18 years and over is compulsory and they must register to vote. 

Australia is a representative democracy. Citizens elect representatives to speak in parliament and make decisions on their behalf. Voting for a person who represents your views allows you to have a say in the laws passed and decisions made by the parliament.

Usually at the end of a four year term, Parliament is prorogued by the Governor who issues the writs for a general election of the Legislative Assembly, all 93 Members, and 21 Members (half) of the Legislative Council.

In NSW, the Parliament expires on the Friday before the first Saturday in March every fourth year and the writs must be issued within four days of that day. Once the writs have been issued, candidates nominate for election to the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council.

Elections in NSW are conducted by the NSW Electoral Commission.

During the campaign candidates speak to voters at a variety of forums, the electoral rolls are prepared, ballot papers for each electorate and for the Legislative Council are printed, polling places are prepared, postal and pre-poll voting is conducted.

On election day voters arrive to choose their electorate members via secret ballot.

Election day is always held on a Saturday so all can get to the polling booths that are open from 8am to 6pm. 

At the entrance, representatives of the various political parties and candidates hand out “How To Vote” cards. Voters register on arrival and are marked against the electoral roll and must respond to three critical questions: “What is your name?”, “What is your address?”, and “Have you voted today?”. The voter is then handed two ballot papers – one for the Legislative Assembly and one for the Legislative Council. After completing them they are folded and placed in the allocated ballot boxes. 

After the polling booths close the first preference votes are counted and the results are phoned-in to the state tally room where results are recorded on the tally board. Scrutineers for each of the candidates observe the counting. 

Once the results are known, the Electoral Commissioner returns the writs to the Governor with all of the names of the candidates that have been elected to the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. This must happen within 60 days of the writs originally being issued. 

The Governor then appoints as Premier the leader of the political party that has won the majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly. On the advice of the new Premier, the new Ministry is appointed. Within seven days of the return of the writs the new Parliament must meet commencing its new four year term. 

The three main parties in NSW are the Australian Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the Nationals. There are smaller or minor parties such as The Greens, and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party. As a result of optional preferential proportional voting in the Upper House, there are more diverse political parties in the Legislative Council with minor parties represented – Christian Democrats, Animal Justice Party, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. A Member of Parliament who does not belong to a political party is called an Independent. 

Close to an election, political parties select from their members a candidate for each electorate that the political party wants to contest, including creating a group ticket for the Legislative Council ballot paper. The major political parties usually have a candidate in every Legislative Assembly electorate. Smaller parties will field candidates in many electorates and may also nominate a group ticket for the Legislative Council.

Each candidate can nominate for one Legislative Assembly electorate or for election to the Legislative Council. Independents must be nominated by 15 persons enrolled in the electoral district they wish to contest. They submit a nomination form obtained (from the NSW Electoral Commission) to the Returning Officer before noon on the day of nomination. 

At noon, on the day of nomination, the Returning Officer for each electorate conducts a draw of names of all the candidates whose nominations have been accepted in order to determine the position of those candidates on the ballot paper.

Political parties hope to win the majority in the Legislative Assembly (Lower House) so they can form government and put their policies into practice.

NSW is divided into 93 electorates with one Member of Parliament representing each electorate in the Legislative Assembly. The boundaries of each state electorate are determined by a distribution process, set out in the NSW Constitution which provides for an equal number of voters in each electoral district (allowing for a maximum of 10% variation more or less than the average).

Redistributions occur when more than a quarter of the electoral districts do not have an equal number of voters and after every second election. 

Sample ballot Legislative Assembly ballot paper supplied by NSW Electoral Commission

The Legislative Assembly also known as the  Lower House uses optional preferential voting. The voter places the number “1” in the square next to the name of the candidate who is the voter’s first choice. No other vote is necessary but in NSW the voter has the option of allocating as many preferences as there are members on the ballot paper. The preferences are placed in the squares next to the candidates. The order does not matter provided consecutive numbers have been used. 

As preferences are optional in the Lower House, those that have only one preference will be set aside,  ‘exhausted’,  after the single vote is counted. Those with two votes are exhausted after the second vote is counted, distributed and so on. Those ballot papers which are set aside as exhausted are not classified as remaining in the count reducing the number of votes remaining in the count and also reducing the number of votes required to be elected. The distribution process is repeated, eliminating candidates one at a time until a candidate has more than half the number of the votes left in the count i.e. until a candidate reaches over 50% of the vote or 50% plus 1.

The Legislative Council consists of 42 Members who represent the whole of NSW in the Parliament. Members are elected on a proportional basis across the whole state, and candidates are presented in a state-wide ballot. Under section 22B of the Constitution Act 1902, Members of the Legislative Council serve a term of eight years which consists of two four-year terms.

Members of the Legislative Council (the Upper House) are elected through an optional preferential proportional representation voting system. Parties or individuals are elected according to the proportion of the total vote they receive. 

Sample ballot paper supplied by the NSW Electoral Commission

Electors may vote for Members of the Legislative Council in one of two ways: 

Vote above the line: The voter has the choice of group voting (usually for a particular party). This is done above the line. The voter places the number “1” in one of the squares to indicate the political party selected as the first choice.  Independents are also listed above the line. The political party candidates are shown below the line in the order which the party has selected them.

Alternatively voters can choose to vote for more than one group above the line. You may record the number “1” in the square next to the name of the group of their first choice. Then vote “2” for your second preference and so forth for as many choices as you wish to make. 

OR

Vote below the line: The voter has the choice of individual voting (for individual candidates) by placing the numbers “1” to “15” in the squares opposite the names of fifteen candidates in order of preference. The voter can add more candidates ensuring consecutive numbers are used in the squares opposite candidates’ names.

Each of the  21 candidates require a “quota” of votes with typically 4.55% of the total valid primary votes being sufficient for a candidate to gain a seat in the Legislative Council. If fewer than 21 candidates receive a quota, a process of transferring preferences from the candidates with the least primary votes begins until all vacancies are filled. The count and distribution of preferences are conducted using the NSW Electoral Commission’s computer system.

Achieving a final result is complex, as surplus votes (i.e. those a candidate receives above the quota of 4.55%) are redistributed to other candidates using a formula, and this process continues until all 21 Members of the Legislative Council have been elected.

The ballot papers for the Legislative Council are then forwarded to the Electoral Commissioner for safekeeping until the period has expired during which the election can be disputed in the Supreme Court (acting as the Court of Disputed Returns) i.e. within 40 days of the return of the writ or, if a petition has been filed, the Court of Disputed Returns has made a determination, or the period of 6 months after the day of polling has expired.