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Australian Electoral Commission
In a Senate election, a candidate is elected if they receive a 'quota' of votes.
All Senate first preference votes must be counted in order to determine the quota. The quota cannot be determined until after all normal ballot paper re-checks are completed and the final day for receipt of postal votes has passed, which is 13 days after election day.
The quota is calculated by dividing the total number of formal ballot papers by one more than the number of Senators to be elected (6 + 1) and then adding '1' to the result (ignoring any remainder).
Once the quota has been determined, the distribution of preferences can occur and the successful candidates decided. Results of senate elections are usually known approximately four to five weeks after election day.
The AEC's official results centre, the VTR, enables you to follow vote counting on election night and progressive results until the final outcome is declared.
The VTR can be accessed on election night from 6pm via the AEC website and pages are updated as results from individual polling places are entered into AEC systems.
Counts conducted in polling places on election night provide indicative results only. As counting continues in the weeks following election night updates will be made to the VTR as results become available.
Only ordinary Senate votes will be counted on election night. Ordinary votes are those cast at an AEC voting location (i.e. a polling place or early voting centre) where the voter's name has been marked off the electoral roll at the time of voting.
In contrast, declaration votes (where ballot papers are sealed in an envelope) must be first checked against the electoral roll to verify a person's eligibility to vote.
Processing and counting of eligible votes occurs in the weeks after election night and include any declaration votes received by the thirteenth day after election day.
Counting will begin in each polling place on election night after 6pm. After the ballot boxes have been opened and emptied by polling officials, the ballot papers will be sorted into:
The formal ATL and BTL ballot papers will then be sorted and counted according to where the first preference has been marked, either a party/group ATL or for a candidate BTL.
Once the sorting and counting has been completed, the results will be phoned through to the local AEC office and then transmitted to the VTR. All Senate ballot papers will then be securely packaged, labelled and returned to the local AEC office.
Commencing the Monday after election day, a 'fresh scrutiny' or fresh examination of all the Senate ballot papers received from every polling place in each electoral division will occur.
The ballot papers marked ATL are counted and the first preference figures for each party/group are tallied and data entered. Scrutineers are entitled to observe this process just as they are on election night.
The ballot papers marked BTL will be transported to a central senate scrutiny (CSS) centre in the AEC WA State Office building where the scrutiny of these ballot papers continues.
When an elector votes at a location that does not have an electoral roll to mark off their name, they will cast a declaration vote. A declaration vote requires the completed ballot papers to be sealed inside an envelope that is signed by the voter.
Different types of declaration votes include absent votes, pre-poll votes, postal votes and provisional votes.
The Divisional Returning Officer (DRO) will conduct a preliminary scrutiny of declaration votes to determine which declaration votes are admissible and can proceed to further scrutiny.
The preliminary scrutiny of declaration votes may begin on the Monday before election day, for example in the case of postal votes already received from voters. However, no envelopes can be opened or votes counted until after 6pm on election day.
The preliminary scrutiny of all other declaration votes (absent, provisional, pre-poll, postal) received will continue in the week after election day. The AEC must wait until 13 days after election day to receive postal votes before counting can be finalised.
A declaration vote will be accepted for further scrutiny if it meets certain requirements. These requirements are:
In addition to these requirements, a postal vote must have been recorded prior to the polls closing at 6pm on election day.
Once a declaration vote is admitted to further scrutiny, the declaration envelope will be opened face down and the ballot papers removed, without being unfolded (to preserve secrecy) and placed in a ballot box. They will then be counted in the same way as ordinary votes.
| Vote type | TOTAL |
|---|---|
| Provisional | 21 749 |
| Absent | 103 303 |
| Early (pre-poll) | 66 725 |
| Postal | 98 178 |
| TOTAL | 289 955 |
Votes marked BTL that are received at the CSS centre will be data entered into an automated scrutiny system called EasyCount Senate (ECS). Each ballot paper will be entered twice by AEC data entry operators as a quality assurance check. The initial data entry and the second entry (for verification) will be undertaken by different data entry operators.
During this process, the AEC system is able to detect whether there is a discrepancy in the data entered by the two operators or whether a vote is informal. Discrepancies in the data entry are resolved immediately.
Once all BTL votes have been recorded in the system, ECS then distributes the preferences in accordance with the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.
The number of formal ATL votes for each group/party is loaded into ECS as are the group voting tickets (GVTs) for each group/party that have been lodged with the AEC.
ECS will first combine the ATL and BTL votes to calculate the quota. To be elected to the Senate, a candidate needs to receive a quota of formal votes.
ECS will then perform the distribution of preferences including carrying out exclusions and calculating transfer values, and outputs reports that show which six candidates have been elected to the Senate.
Once the votes are counted and the six successful candidates have been determined there will be a public declaration of the result. The declaration of the results will be conducted by the acting Australian Electoral Officer (AEO) for Western Australia.
After the Senate results have been declared, the acting AEO for Western Australia will return the writ for the election to the Governor of Western Australia endorsed with the names of the successful candidates.
Phil Diak
Media Director (National spokesperson)
02 6271 4415 or 0413 452 539
Peita Mamo
Assistant Director, Media
08 6363 8058 or 0403 396 226
The AEC acknowledges the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters, culture and community. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.