8 October 2004

Provision of election results on election night

Up-to-date and comprehensive election results will be available on election night via the virtual tally room (VTR) on the AEC website at www.aec.gov.au.

The VTR will provide 30 screens of election results and analysis, a massive increase from the four screens available at the 2001 election.

On election night, House of Representatives and Senate results will be available at a national, State/Territory and divisional level.

The first results are expected to be available on the VTR from about 5.30pm EST. (These will be Tasmanian results available early due to daylight saving).

The site will be updated approximately every five minutes. To ensure you have the latest results, hit the ‘refresh’ button on your web browser frequently.

Each election result screen in the Virtual Tally Room has a 'Help' section located at the bottom of the page, which will provide you with explanations and assistance regarding the elections results.

What votes are counted on election night?

The majority of electors cast an ordinary vote, that is a vote cast on election day at a polling place within the division for which the elector is enrolled. All these ordinary votes are counted at the polling place on election night.

A fresh count of these votes is also done in the post election period, to ensure accuracy of the count.

What happens the Sunday after election day?

On the Sunday after election day, further counting of available declaration votes (these votes are described later) will be undertaken at AEC divisional offices.

The final figures for Sunday counting are expected to be available on the virtual tally room (VTR) on the AEC website at www.aec.gov.au by 4.00pm on the Sunday.

Results down to polling place level will also be available from the Sunday.

The swing figures will change after election night as declaration votes (absent, provisional, postal and pre-poll) are introduced into the count. The election night swing figures will be based on ordinary votes only.

Provision of election results post election period

The 2004 election votes will continue to be counted on the Monday after election day until they are finalised.

The comprehensive and timely results will again be available on the virtual tally room (VTR) on the AEC website at www.aec.gov.au. The VTR will continue operating until all election 2004 results are finalised.

The results will be available at a national, State/Territory, divisional and polling place level.

The VTR will be updated with the latest results at intervals of approximately 15 minutes for the House of Representatives and approximately hourly for the Senate.

What votes are counted after election night?

There are many electors who cast what is known as a declaration vote. 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
• Early (pre-poll) vote - a vote cast in person before election day at divisional offices or special early voting centres
• Absent vote - a vote cast on election day 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.

Declaration votes do not get counted on election night. They are counted in divisional offices in the period following election night, and the counting of these votes takes longer than the counting of ordinary votes.

In the days following election day, a “giant exchange” is carried out between the 150 electoral divisions, where declaration votes are physically passed onto the relevant division. Once the declaration votes are received in the home division, the counting of these votes can begin.

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 election day.