PAL: Task 8 Electoral systems

Australian electoral comission

the independent government agency responsible for maintaining Australia's electoral roll and running federal elections.

roles of the AEC

• Administering free and fair federal elections, by-elections, and national referendums.

• Managing citizen enrolments to ensure the voter database (electoral roll) is up-to-date.

• Informing the public on democratic processes, voting procedures, and enrolment deadlines.

• Monitoring and enforcing compliance with federal political funding and disclosure laws.

• Periodically reviewing and redrawing federal electorate boundaries to keep voter numbers equal (boundary redistribution)

Principles of a free and fair election

• elections are regular and fair (secret ballot)

• votes are of equal value

• the will of the majority is achieved

• the interests of minorities are taken into consideration - proportional voting

• there is a high level of participation by the electorate

• voting is accessbile

• there is the maximum possible franchise/participation.

How are free and fair elections achieved?

• constitution s7+28 guarantees 3 yearly elections for the HOR and 6 yearly elections for the Senate.

• AEC as a statutory authority ensures that elections are conducted fairly and independently.

• Reforms to Commonwealth Electoral Act - ensures that there is no malapportionment or gerrymandering in the distribution of electorates in the HOR.

  • the size of electorates is determined by population and may only vary by plus or minus 10%.

  • regular redistributions are required.

• use of preferential voting in HOR

• minority interests are taken into consideration through preferential and proportional systems

• compulsory voting ensures high degree of participation (~95%)

• participation also improved through accessibility to voting.

safe seat

electorates where the same candidate is expected to win again at the next election (more than 60%) of the vote

marginal seat

the winning party has received less than 56% of the vote. Often targeted due to election campaigns due to their potential to “swing” to alternate parties/candidates

swing seat

seat that could by won by any candidate

mirror representation

an ideal form of representation in which composition of the parliament (or at least one house) accurately reflects the diversity of the electorate in age, gender, ethnicity, religion, and other social and economic characteristics.

why is mirror representation more likely in the senate?

• candidates only need to reach a specific quota, not 50% +1

• smaller parties and crossbench are more likely to be elected → diverse political opinion and representation

• avoids party domination and landslides such as in the HOR even though it uses preferential voting.

single member electorate

an electorate represented by one representative. Used to vote in members to HOR, 150 seats

multi-member electorate

electorate represented by more than one representative. used for senate voting and elects 6 members per state and 2 per territory

electoral compromise

refers to the balance between the two houses of the Australian PArliament, where the major parties are more likely to win seats in the HOR due to its preferential voting system and single member electorates, while the proportional representation system and lower quota required for the Senate provides greater opportunities for minor parties and independents to gain representation.

electoral system

a system that translates votes into the desired leadership outcome of the people. Used to translate votes into seats in parliament.

majoritarian electoral system

• voters choose single candidate

• creates clear parliamentary majority for one party.

proportional electoral system

• parties win seats in proportion to the total share of the nationwide or regional vote they receive

• more reflective of electorate’s actual preferences.

  • minor and independents more chance of winning seats.

franchise

descirbed generally as the “right to vote”. Australia has universal franchise that includes Australian citizens who are over the age of 18

history of full adult suffrage in Australia

• mid 19th century: voting restricted to adult males who owned a certain amount of property.

• 1902: women right to vote federally, however Indigenous women wer excluded.

• 1962: Indigenous Australians gained the voluntary right to enrol and vote in federal elections

• 1984: voting for Indigenous Australians become compulsory

• 1972: voting age lowered to 18 years old.

political participation

The ways citizens engage with and influence the political and electoral system, including voting, joining political parties or interest groups, campaigning, peacefully protesting, and contacting elected representatives.

advantages and disadvantages of preferential voting (HOR)

• Advantages:

  • Ensures the elected representative has majority support ($50\% + 1$) of preferences in their electorate.

  • Prevents vote-wasting by allowing preferences to flow to secondary choices.

  • Usually delivers stable majority government (e.g., Labor forming government following the 2022 Federal Election).

• Disadvantages:

  • Highly complex system that can lead to higher informal voting rates.

  • Can underrepresent minor parties with broad, diffuse support across the nation who fail to win single-member seats.

advantages and disadvantages of proportional representation (Senate)

• Advantages:

  • Highly representative of actual voting shares, encouraging diversity and mirror representation (e.g., a record 18-member crossbench in the Senate following the 2022 Federal Election).

  • Prevents single-party dominance in the upper house, strengthening parliamentary scrutiny.

• Disadvantages:

  • Can lead to a deadlocked parliament or place significant balance of power with micro-parties or independents.

  • Complex and slow vote counting process.

advantages of preferential voting

• ensures that only a candidate with the support of an absolute majority of the electorate can win.

  • winning candidate is the most preferred or disliked candidate

• ensures that voters can support minor parties and independent candidates, knowing that their preferences may be used to decide the winner. Thus, votes for other less popular candidates are not wasted

• allows parties of like-minded philosophies or policies to exchange preferences in order to assist each other

• promotes a strong two-party system, ensuring stability in the parliamentary process.

disadvantages of preferential voting

• more complicated to administer and count

  • can produce a higher level of informal voting

• promotes a two-party system to the detriment of minor parties and independents

• voters are forced to express a preference for candidates they may not wish to support in any way.

Gerrymandering

intentional manipulation of boundaries, of an electoral constituency, so as to favour one party or class.

gerrymandering in the US: Packing

Mapmakers cram as many voters from the opposing party as possible into a single district. The rival party easily wins that one seat, but their voting strength in all the neighboring districts is severely reduced

gerrymandering in the US: Cracking

Mapmakers scatter voters from the opposing party across many different districts. This dilutes their numbers so they never hold a majority in any single district, rendering their votes weak and ineffective

electoral re-distribution in Australia

• redistribution committee appointed

  • electoral commissioner

  • australian electoral officer

  • surveyer general

  • auditor general

• based on enrolment numbers and projected population growth

• public proposals taken

• maps showing boundaries published for public - transparent

• objections taken and redrawn - accountable, open to scrutiny

• final determination made

• parliament has no power to reject or amend final proposed boundaries.

malapportionment

• any system where one group has significantly more influence than another, such as when boting districts are unevenly spread out across a population.

• due to different population sizes, some votes are worth more than others

distinguishing features of gerrymandering and malapportionment

• gerrymandering is intentional

• malapportionment is unintended due to proportion

gerrymandering and malapportionment in AUS

HOR - gerrymandering can occur because electoral lines can be redrawn, however malapportionment cannot occur as there are the same number of voters per electorate

Senate - malapportionment can occur because of the proportion of voters within the states are different from each other, however gerrymandering cannot occur because the state and territory lines cannot be redrawn