EL E CTION STATISTICS ACT LEGISLatIVE ASSEMBLY ELEctION 2008 ISBN 10 Digit: 0-642-60480-0 13 Digit: 978-0-642-60480-4 © Australian Capital Territory, Canberra 2008 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from Customer Services and Information, Department of Urban Services, ACT Government, GPO Box 158, Canberra City ACT 2601. Produced by Publishing Services for the ACT Electoral Commission PO Box 272, Civic Square ACT 2608 Phone: 02 6205 0033 Web: www.elections.act.gov.au Email: [email protected] Publication No 04/1639 http://www.act.gov.au Telephone: Canberra 132 281 Contents INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 THE HARE-CLARK ELECTORAL SYSTEM............................................................................ 1 Stages of the scrutiny ........................................................................................... 1 THE VOTING PROCESS ................................................................................................. 3 Types of votes ..................................................................................................... 3 Electorates .......................................................................................................... 3 Enrolment ........................................................................................................... 4 Mobile polling....................................................................................................... 4 Candidates and political parties .............................................................................. 4 Ballot papers ....................................................................................................... 4 Election timetable................................................................................................. 5 ABOUT THE STATISTICS ............................................................................................... 6 Abbreviations....................................................................................................... 6 Percentages......................................................................................................... 6 “Home and away” votes for polling places ................................................................ 7 Swings................................................................................................................ 7 First preference votes by polling place ..................................................................... 7 DECLARATION OF THE RESULT OF THE 2008 ACT LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ELECTION ........... 8 CASUAL VACANCIES..................................................................................................... 9 Stages of a casual vacancy count-back.................................................................... 9 Casual vacancy count-back in Molonglo following the resignation of Ted Quinlan ......... 10 TABLE 1 — FIRST PREFERENCE VOTE SUMMARIES ......................................................... 11 1.1 Summary of first preference votes by electorate/ACT total ............................... 13 1.2 Summary of first preference votes by party/vote type: ACT total....................... 13 1.3 Summary of first preference votes by party/vote type: Brindabella .................... 14 1.4 Summary of first preference votes by party/vote type: Ginninderra ................... 14 1.5 Summary of first preference votes by party/vote type: Molonglo ....................... 14 1.6 First preference votes by candidate/vote type: Brindabella ............................... 15 1.7 First preference votes by candidate/vote type: Ginninderra .............................. 16 1.8 First preference votes by candidate/vote type: Molonglo .................................. 17 TABLE 2 — FIRST PREFERENCE VOTES BY POLLING PLACE .............................................. 19 2.1 Brindabella ................................................................................................ 21 2.2 Ginninderra ............................................................................................... 39 2.3 Molonglo ................................................................................................... 57 2.4 Polling places issuing fewer than 20 votes ...................................................... 75 TABLE 3 — DISTRIBUTION OF PREFERENCES................................................................. 77 3.1 Brindabella ................................................................................................ 78 3.2 Ginninderra ............................................................................................... 80 3.3 Molonglo ................................................................................................... 82 SAMPLE BALLOT PAPERS............................................................................................. 87 Brindabella ........................................................................................................ 89 Ginninderra ....................................................................................................... 90 Molonglo ........................................................................................................... 91 ACT Electoral Commission — Page iii Introduction This is the official publication of the results of the election of 17 members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly that was held on 18 October 2008. This was the sixth election for the ACT Legislative Assembly. Previous elections were held on: 4 March 1989 15 February 1992 18 February 1995 21 February 1998 20 October 2001 16 October 2004 This publication also includes the results of the recount to fill the only casual vacancy since the 2004 election, following the resignation of Mr Ted Quinlan MLA. The Hare-Clark electoral system The Hare-Clark electoral system used for the 2008 election was chosen by a majority of voters at a referendum held on 15 February 1992. Substantially the same system is used to elect Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The Hare-Clark system is a preferential method of proportional representation in which each voter has a single transferable vote. Voters are instructed to number candidates in the order of their preference using a series of numbers beginning with 1. Stages of the scrutiny The scrutiny has several stages. These are: The formality check. At this stage, any ballot papers that fail to satisfy the criteria for formality are excluded from further consideration. A ballot paper is informal if it has no first preference marked for a candidate or if it has two or more first preferences marked for two or more candidates. A ballot paper is also informal if it is not authentic, if it has writing on it by which the elector can be identified, or, in the case of a declaration or postal vote, if it is not enclosed in a declaration envelope prior to the scrutiny. The count of first preference votes for each candidate. Each formal ballot paper is sorted to a candidate according to the first preference (number 1) vote marked on it by the elector. The calculation of the quota. The quota of votes required for election is calculated for each electorate using the formula: total number of formal votes + 1 number of vacancies + 1 Identification of any elected candidates who have received a quota. Any candidate with votes equal to or greater than a quota is elected. This stage is repeated after each step (called a “count”) in the scrutiny. ACT Electoral Commission — Page 1 ACT Legislative Assembly Election — 18 October 2008 Distribution of surplus votes. If a candidate received more votes than the quota, the surplus votes counted to the candidate are distributed to other candidates according to further preferences indicated on ballot papers by those voters. Ballot papers counted to an elected candidate with a surplus are distributed at a reduced value called a “fractional transfer value”. This value is calculated as follows: number of surplus votes total number of ballot papers with further preferences Only those ballot papers received by the candidate at the point at which the candidate received a quota are included in the distribution of a surplus. So, if a candidate received more than a quota on first preferences, all of that candidate’s ballot papers would be included in the distribution of the surplus. But if a candidate received more than a quota after receiving ballot papers from another candidate, only those ballot papers received from that other candidate would be included in the distribution of the surplus. Ballot papers distributed as part of a candidate’s surplus are always distributed at one “count”. Exclusion of candidates. If, after all surplus votes have been distributed, vacancies remain to be filled, the candidate with the fewest total votes is “excluded” and his or her ballot papers will be distributed to continuing candidates according to the preferences shown by those voters. Ballot papers from excluded candidates are distributed over several “counts”, with each count including ballot papers with the same transfer value. Ballot papers received as first preferences have a transfer value of “1”, whereas ballot papers transferred as part of a surplus have a fractional transfer value (see Distribution of surplus votes above). Completion of the scrutiny.