12 November 2001

"Why does the counting of votes take so long after Election Day?"

Firstly, the AEC must count votes accurately. The legislation and our procedures require us to not only count the votes in the polling place on election night, but also to conduct a fresh count of these votes in the post polling day period.

Secondly, the AEC must count votes transparently. The legislation and our procedures require us to involve scrutineers in each part of the process to ensure that the election result is not only accurate, but is seen to be accurate.

"What happens the day after Election Day (Sunday)?"

Sunday is a day for organisation and planning. Tasks can include:

• Finalise Mobile Polling Teams Scrutinies
• Check all declaration votes issued and pack up for onforwarding to other Divisions in all States
• Pack up Certified Lists for Scanning
• Finalise polling official payments
• Sort all polling material
• Secure all House of Representatives & Senate ballot papers
• Mark names off roll in preparation for further scrutinies of declaration votes.

The majority of electors cast an ordinary vote, that is a vote cast on election day at a polling place within the Division (electorate) for which the elector is enrolled. All these ordinary votes are counted at the polling place on election night and then a fresh count of these votes is done in the post election period, to ensure accuracy of the count.

There are many electors, however, who cast what is known as a declaration vote. Declaration votes do not get counted on election night. They consist of the following types of votes:

• Postal vote - a vote cast by mail before election day by an elector - an elector needs to apply for a postal vote on a postal vote application form
• Pre-poll vote - a vote cast in person before election day at divisional offices or special pre-poll voting centre
• Absent vote - a vote cast by an elector at a polling place within the State or Territory but outside the Division for which he or she is enrolled
• Provisional vote - a vote cast on election day by an elector who believes he or she should be on the roll but whose name could not be found on the roll in the polling place

When casting a declaration vote, electors must place the completed ballot paper(s) in a special envelope and then must make, with their signature, the required declarations on the envelope, such as a declaration that they are entitled to vote.

In the days following Election Day, a "giant exchange" is carried out between the 150 divisions Australia-wide, whereby declaration votes are physically passed onto the relevant ("home") division. Once the declaration votes are received in the home division, the counting of these votes can begin.

Note:Some preliminary checks (but no counting) of pre-poll and postal votes can now begin on the Monday before polling day. This will occur in all Divisions at 2001 election.

Postal Votes

For federal elections, the legislation requires that the AEC wait for up to 13 days after Election Day for any postal votes. These votes are included in the count if they are postmarked before 6.00pm on Election Day and are received within 13 days of Election Day. For this reason, the counting of postal votes is an ongoing process for up to 13 days after polling day.

The counting of postal votes is a lengthy, exhaustive process and includes the following:

• Checking the eligibility of the person claiming a vote by comparing signatures on the postal vote certificates (declaration envelope) with those on the original applications for the postal vote
• Checking that the postal votes were cast before the close of the poll
• Marking the name off the roll of each elector who has done a postal vote
• Removing the ballot paper envelope from the declaration envelope and separating these envelopes to ensure the secrecy of the ballot
• Removing the ballot paper(s) from the ballot paper envelope and unfolding each one. Note, this can be time consuming.
• Sorting the ballot papers into piles and checking each ballot paper for formality, and
• Counting the votes for a result of first preferences as well as the two candidate preferred count, which is an indicator of the final result.

Other declaration votes

In addition to the postal votes, there are the other declaration votes, that is, pre-poll, absent and provisional votes, that also need to be counted after polling night. The counting of these declaration votes also takes longer than the counting of ordinary votes. Firstly the entitlement of the people claiming a vote is checked and their name is marked off the roll. The rest of the process is then the similar to the counting of postal votes, as described above.

As mentioned above, another factor that can slow down the counting of votes post Election Day is the close scrutiny of each phase of the count by the candidates' representatives, known as scrutineers. Scrutineers may question the electoral officials' interpretation of signatures, numbers on ballot papers and formality of ballot papers.

For all declaration votes where it is found that the elector's name is not on the roll, exhaustive searches through the enrolment management system (RMANS) is undertaken in case an elector's name has been removed incorrectly. If it is revealed that an elector's name should have been on the roll, the name is reinstated and the vote is counted.