This Saturday’s South Australian election will give the State a dubious democratic distinction: thousands of voters will face the most demanding voting task in Australian electoral history if they wish to cast a formal vote for the Legislative Council below the line.
To vote differently from the official party voting tickets, voters must number all squares below the line sequentially – from 1 to 75 – without omission or duplication. Only one blank square is permitted, and even then, all other numbers must be in perfect sequence.
Never before in any State, Federal, or Territory election have voters been faced with such an onerous requirement simply to have their vote counted as formal. The previous record occurred during the 1974 Federal double dissolution election, when 73 candidates contested for the New South Wales Senate.
“An Outrageous Imposition on Voters”
Bogey Musidlak, President of the Proportional Representation Society of Australia, described the situation as both unreasonable and undemocratic.
“This is outrageous when everyone has a single transferable vote,” Mr Musidlak said.
“Preferences are meant to be an instruction about the order in which candidates can have access to what’s still left unused of a person’s vote.
While voters should be encouraged to mark preferences, they shouldn’t automatically lose their vote if they don’t do so.”
Complex Rules, Minimal Impact
Mr Musidlak said that the excessive formality requirements serve no real democratic purpose.
“Past experience suggests that, during the scrutiny, no more than 20 to 25 numbers would actually be looked at on most ballot papers,” he said.
“Yet voters are being forced to number up to 75 boxes correctly just to have their say.”
He added that as the election draws near, it is time for party leaders and candidates to commit to simplifying the voting process so that all voters – not just those marking a single box above the line – can easily record a valid vote.
“It’s time to make it easier for every voter to record a formal Legislative Council vote,” Mr Musidlak said.
How Other Jurisdictions Handle Preferences
The Society notes that South Australia’s system stands in stark contrast to simpler, fairer voting rules used elsewhere in Australia:
- In the ACT Legislative Assembly, a single first preference is sufficient for a formal vote, even though five or seven Members are elected per electorate.
- In New South Wales, where the infamous “tablecloth ballot paper” appeared in 1999 (with 264 candidates for 21 seats), only 15 preferences are required below the line for a valid vote.
- In South Australia’s local government elections and Tasmania’s Hare–Clark system, voters need only mark as many preferences as there are vacancies to be filled.
Call for Reform
The Proportional Representation Society of Australia and the Electoral Reform Society of South Australia are urging the next Parliament to review and modernise the Legislative Council voting system.
They argue that the right to vote easily and meaningfully must be protected, and that unnecessary complexity – which can disenfranchise voters or push them toward above-the-line voting controlled by party machines – has no place in a modern democracy.
“The aim should be to make every vote count without making every voter jump through unnecessary hoops,” Mr Musidlak concluded.
Background
- Above-the-line (ATL) voting allows voters to choose a party ticket, with preferences distributed according to registered party deals.
- Below-the-line (BTL) voting allows voters to rank individual candidates in their own order, but requires a full set of consecutive preferences.
- The current South Australian Legislative Council election features 75 candidates, setting a national record for the number of preferences required to cast a formal vote.
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