How the House of Representatives votes are counted

First, all the number ‘1’ votes are counted for each candidate. If a candidate gets more than 50% of the formal first preference votes then they are immediately elected.

If no candidate has an absolute majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is excluded. These votes are then transferred to the other candidates according to the second preferences shown by voters on these ballot papers.

If still no candidate has an absolute majority, again the remaining candidate with the fewest votes is excluded and these votes are transferred. This process will continue until one candidate has more than half the total votes cast and is declared ‘elected’.

This voting system is called preferential voting and has been used in Australian federal elections since 1918.

How the preferential voting system works

Three candidates Nick, Tony and Jenny stand for election. After the election the ballot papers are counted and there are 60,000 formal votes. Therefore the absolute majority needed to win the seat is 30,001 (50% +1).

Nick, Tony and Jenny received the following first preference or number ‘1’ votes:

• Nick: 15,000
• Tony: 23,000
• Jenny: 22,000

Nobody has gained an absolute majority so the person with the lowest number of first preferences is excluded. This is Nick and the second preferences on his ballot papers are then distributed to either Tony or Jenny. 6,300 of the total number of people who voted for Nick put the number 2 in the box for Tony.

The remaining 8,700 put the number 2 in the box for Jenny. This gives Tony a total of 29,300 and Jenny a total of 30,700.

• Tony: 23,000 + 6,300 = 29,300
• Jenny: 22,000 + 8,700 = 30,700

Now that Jenny has 30,700 votes, which is an absolute majority, she becomes the elected member.

The process could involve more than the two steps shown above. If there were more than three candidates, the candidates with the fewest votes will continue to be excluded and their preferences transferred, or distributed, until one candidate has an absolute majority.

The distribution of preferences

The example below illustrates how the preferential voting system differs to first pass the post. The example shows the full distributions of preferences for the Division of McMillan at each stage of the scrutiny for the 1972 Election. In this case, the candidate who received the most first preference votes (Mountford with 45.78%) actually lost when preferences were distributed. The candidate who obtained the absolute majority following the distribution of preferences won the seat. This was Hewson with 52.40% of the vote.

1972 Election - Distribution of Preferences - Division of McMillan

Total Formal Vote: 49805
Absolute Majority (50%+1): 24903

Armitage (Liberal Party)	Buchanan (Independent)	Hewson (Country Party)	Houlihan (Democratic Labour Party)	Mountford (Australian Labor Party)
12025 810	3113 Excluded	8282 1980	3583 138	22802 185
12835 391	0	10262 3144	3721 Excluded	22987 186
13226 Excluded	0	13406 12690	0	23173 536
0	0	26096 Elected	0	23709

Declaration of the poll

The result of the House of Representatives election is formally announced by the DRO as soon as it is known in a public ceremony known as the ‘declaration of the poll’.