Federally (and most States have the same system, just a "level" down) we have two houses of parliament:
1. The house of representatives, which is a composed of members of parliament elected for your local geographic region, divided up approximately by equal chunks of population. This is where legislation is generally introduced first, and it's often referred to as the "lower" house.
2. The Senate, which is considered the "States House". That is composed of a fixed number of 12 Senators for each State (6 states), and 2 for each Terrority (2 territories), and operates as the house of review - legislation is passed "up" to here from the House of Reps to be voted on again, and possibly amended and passed back down. It's often referred to as the "upper" house.
We have no president - the Prime Minister is voted for by the house of reps, which means the party (or coalition of parties) with a majority in the lower house gets to have the Prime Minister.
So, come election time, we have two votes to cast, one for each house.
In both cases, this is a compulsory preferential run-off vote.
The lower house is relatively simple: Whatever parties or independents are running candidates in your local region (electorate) are simply randomly ordered on the ballot paper. You then number all candidates on the ballot paper in order of your preference. If a candidate has 50%+ of the primary vote, they win. If no candidate achieves that, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated, and their ballots redistributed according to the number 2 preference on those ballots. Repeat until a candidate has 50%+ of the vote and therefore wins. Most parties hand out a sheet with how they would like you to vote near each electoral booth, so if you want to vote according to a party ticket, you simply copy that onto your voting sheet. You can vote whatever preference order you choose to though, including "donkey" (which is just 1-n from top to bottom).
The upper house is a little more complicated - each state has a 50% of senators being voted on at each election (so 6 positions for states), territories have both senators elected each time. However, it is also a preferential run-off election - you cast your preferential vote in the same way, by numbering all candidates in order of your preference, from 1 to however many candidates.
However, as a convenience measure, and because in the bigger states you can have 70-80 candidates on a Senate ticket, each party entering candidates can select in advance a full set of preferences. The senate ballot ticket is then divided by a line. You can choose to simply vote "above the line", putting a single [1] in a party ticket box, and your preferences are then ordered according to the advance declaration of preferences by that party. If you want to vote "below the line", you number every candidate box individually in order of your preference, instead of simply picking a party ticket.
The same process then occurs - candidate with the least votes is "eliminated", and their ballot preferences redistributed amongst remaining candidates. It's a little complicated how state senate preferences flow because there are multiple positions being elected. In the end, the counting process isn't the relevant part.
The point of having the preferential voting is that you list all your candidates in order of your preference, and if your first preference doesn't get up, your vote still counts, because it is redistributed.
The meta point of having compulsory preferential voting is that it generally leads to the "least hated" group(s) being voted in.
This is considered better than other voting systems which often lead to the "most liked" group(s) getting in, because the "least hated" group(s) are more likely to be able to negotiate in good faith with almost everyone.
The "most liked" group(s) often also have significant groups of "haters", so even though they may be able to enact legislation, that will often lead to significant groups of people being very very unhappy with the outcomes, as opposed to merely being mildly-annoyed.
is probably the best links to explain how the ordinary voter ticks their boxes.
In addition a friend of mine created for this election a handy dandy website to help with voting below the line in the senate. Go there to see how the process might work and to see the party tickets: https://belowtheline.org.au/
It all sounds a bit complicated, but it's kind of not actually complicated in practice for each voter. You just decide which parties and independent candidates you like and/or hate based on whatever reasoned or emotional arguments you use to decide these things, and number your preferences accordingly.
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zvi
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-18 14:54 (UTC)1. The house of representatives, which is a composed of members of parliament elected for your local geographic region, divided up approximately by equal chunks of population. This is where legislation is generally introduced first, and it's often referred to as the "lower" house.
2. The Senate, which is considered the "States House". That is composed of a fixed number of 12 Senators for each State (6 states), and 2 for each Terrority (2 territories), and operates as the house of review - legislation is passed "up" to here from the House of Reps to be voted on again, and possibly amended and passed back down. It's often referred to as the "upper" house.
We have no president - the Prime Minister is voted for by the house of reps, which means the party (or coalition of parties) with a majority in the lower house gets to have the Prime Minister.
So, come election time, we have two votes to cast, one for each house.
In both cases, this is a compulsory preferential run-off vote.
The lower house is relatively simple: Whatever parties or independents are running candidates in your local region (electorate) are simply randomly ordered on the ballot paper. You then number all candidates on the ballot paper in order of your preference. If a candidate has 50%+ of the primary vote, they win. If no candidate achieves that, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated, and their ballots redistributed according to the number 2 preference on those ballots. Repeat until a candidate has 50%+ of the vote and therefore wins. Most parties hand out a sheet with how they would like you to vote near each electoral booth, so if you want to vote according to a party ticket, you simply copy that onto your voting sheet. You can vote whatever preference order you choose to though, including "donkey" (which is just 1-n from top to bottom).
The upper house is a little more complicated - each state has a 50% of senators being voted on at each election (so 6 positions for states), territories have both senators elected each time. However, it is also a preferential run-off election - you cast your preferential vote in the same way, by numbering all candidates in order of your preference, from 1 to however many candidates.
However, as a convenience measure, and because in the bigger states you can have 70-80 candidates on a Senate ticket, each party entering candidates can select in advance a full set of preferences. The senate ballot ticket is then divided by a line. You can choose to simply vote "above the line", putting a single [1] in a party ticket box, and your preferences are then ordered according to the advance declaration of preferences by that party. If you want to vote "below the line", you number every candidate box individually in order of your preference, instead of simply picking a party ticket.
The same process then occurs - candidate with the least votes is "eliminated", and their ballot preferences redistributed amongst remaining candidates. It's a little complicated how state senate preferences flow because there are multiple positions being elected. In the end, the counting process isn't the relevant part.
The point of having the preferential voting is that you list all your candidates in order of your preference, and if your first preference doesn't get up, your vote still counts, because it is redistributed.
The meta point of having compulsory preferential voting is that it generally leads to the "least hated" group(s) being voted in.
This is considered better than other voting systems which often lead to the "most liked" group(s) getting in, because the "least hated" group(s) are more likely to be able to negotiate in good faith with almost everyone.
The "most liked" group(s) often also have significant groups of "haters", so even though they may be able to enact legislation, that will often lead to significant groups of people being very very unhappy with the outcomes, as opposed to merely being mildly-annoyed.
The reference site for all of this is the Australian Electoral Commission: http://www.aec.gov.au/Voting/index.htm
http://www.aec.gov.au/Voting/How_to_vote/Voting_HOR.htm
http://www.aec.gov.au/Voting/How_to_vote/Voting_Senate.htm
is probably the best links to explain how the ordinary voter ticks their boxes.
In addition a friend of mine created for this election a handy dandy website to help with voting below the line in the senate. Go there to see how the process might work and to see the party tickets: https://belowtheline.org.au/
It all sounds a bit complicated, but it's kind of not actually complicated in practice for each voter. You just decide which parties and independent candidates you like and/or hate based on whatever reasoned or emotional arguments you use to decide these things, and number your preferences accordingly.