Media Release 2001: Preferences in Voters' Hands

7 November 2001

The allocation of preferences has been one of the major concerns of voters phoning the Australian Electoral Commission's call centre.

The Electoral Commissioner Mr Andy Becker said that calls to the Australian Electoral Commission's (AEC) telephone inquiry service indicated that some voters may be confused about the allocation of preferences.

"Voters are hearing that "Party X is giving its preferences to Party Y" and become confused especially when the voter does not agree with the decision," he said.

"It is important to remember that for the coming federal election it is voters themselves – not the political parties – who decide where their preferences go."

Mr Becker said that while parties may advise their supporters to vote in a certain manner, at the end of the day, allocating preferences was entirely in the hands of the individual voter.

"Voters can either follow a party or candidate's how-to-vote card or can decide for themselves how they will allocate preferences."

Mr Becker said voters had to number all the boxes on the House of Representatives ballot paper to ensure their vote counts.

On the Senate ballot paper, voters can choose to follow the preference choice of the party or group they support by simply putting a number one in the relevant box above the line. The AEC will then count the preferences on this paper according to the list registered by the party or group. Voters who don't wish to follow a party's preference recommendation can choose their own order of preferences by numbering all the squares below the line.

"Either way," Mr Becker said, "it is entirely in the voters' hands just who gets their preferences."

Further information:

Brien Hallett
Asst Commissioner Information & Research
Ph. (02) 6271 4477
Mobile 0413 274 798

Anthea Wilson
Director Information
Ph. (02) 6271 4415
Mobile 0413 452 539

For further electoral information, access the AEC website at www.aec.gov.au