Nominations

Candidates must be nominated before they may be elected to the Senate or the House of Representatives. The qualifications for a candidate for the Senate or the House of Representatives are the same. A candidate must be at least 18 years old, an Australian citizen and an elector entitled to vote or a person qualified to become an elector.

It is not possible to nominate as a candidate for election until the writ has been issued. A nomination must be made on the appropriate nomination form. For each nomination a deposit must be lodged. The deposit required of a House of Representatives candidate is $250, refundable if the candidate achieves more than 4% of the formal first preference votes for the relevant division. For the Senate a deposit of $500 is required, refundable if the candidate (or if applicable, the Senate group in which the candidate is included) achieves more than 4% of the formal first preference votes for the relevant State or Territory.

Nominations for the 1996 federal election closed at 12 noon on 9 February 1996. There were a total of 1163 nominated candidates:

• 255 for the Senate
• 908 for the House of Representatives.

Senate - number of candidates, groups and ungrouped candidates

1996					1993
	Seats	Candidates	Groups	Ungrouped candidates	Candidates	Groups	Ungrouped candidates
NSW	6	63	18	9	66	21	8
VIC	6	44	12	6	51	12	11
QLD	6	48	18	4	42	11	6
WA	6	29	9	4	33	10	4
SA	6	31	12	1	36	12	3
TAS	6	19	8	0	20	8	1
ACT	2	14	5	4	14	6	2
NT	2	7	3	1	4	2	0
Total	40	255	85	29	266	82	35

House of Representatives - number of candidates

	1996		1993
	Seats	Candidates	Seats	Candidates
NSW	50	319	50	309
VIC	37	214	38	213
QLD	26	180	25	206
WA	14	80	14	85
SA	12	74	12	90
TAS	5	23	5	23
ACT	3	13	2	15
NT	1	5	1	2
Total	148	908	147	943

	1996 federal election	1993 federal election
TOTAL CANDIDATES	1163	1209

Nominations overview

• 46 fewer candidates nominated than at the 1993 federal election (11 fewer for the Senate and 35 fewer for the House of Representatives)
• 821 male and 342 female candidates nominated (in 1993 there were 902 male and 306 female candidates)
• 31 parties fielded candidates (in 1993 there were 35)
• the largest number of candidates fielded in a division was 10. There were nine divisions with 10 candidates each: Bennelong, Blaxland, Lowe, Sydney (in New South Wales), Dickson, Fisher, Moreton (in Queensland), Kingston (South Australia) and Brand (Western Australia)
• the smallest number of candidates fielded in a division was three. This occurred in three divisions Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), Corangamite and Wannon (Victoria).

Nominations system

• nominations were entered into the computerised nominations system at Divisional Offices for House of Representatives candidates and at State and Territory Head Offices for Senate candidates
• the nominations system produced a number of reports which were provided to the media, candidates, political parties and other interested people
• a media release was distributed after the close of nominations which included reports giving details of the candidates standing for election.

Draw for ballot paper positionsThe order in which candidates’ names appear on a ballot paper is determined by a random draw. The draw takes place as soon as possible after the close of nominations at 12 noon. Draws for positions on the House of Representatives ballot papers are conducted by DROs at each of the 148 Divisional Offices. Draws for Senate ballot paper positions are conducted by AEOs at each capital city Head Office. The draws are open to the public, the media and candidates.

A lotto-style draw is held for both the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the House of Representatives there are two draws. The first gives each candidate a number and the second determines the order in which each candidate appears on the ballot paper. This process is called a double randomised draw.

The same process occurs in the Senate, however, it is in two parts. In the first part there are two draws for grouped candidates, and in the second, there are two draws for ungrouped candidates. Groups appear before ungrouped candidates on the ballot paper.

The draw is one of the few times during an election when most candidates come together.

Printing of ballot papersThe AEC commences printing the House of Representatives and the Senate ballot papers after the draw for ballot paper positions is completed.

For this election:

• approximately 37.5m ballot papers were printed
• approximately 370 tonnes of paper were used to print the papers
• 14 printers were used at sites around Australia.

For the first time:

• camera ready artwork of the ballot papers was produced direct from the AEC’s computerised nominations system; and
• the AEC produced House of Representatives ballot papers in a numbered cheque-book style pad. This process enabled easier handling and enhanced accountability.

In the week beginning 12 February 1996, ballot papers were distributed to Divisional Offices around Australia. On receipt of the ballot papers, they were counted by DROs and the majority were securely stored in readiness for polling day. The remainder were used immediately for pre-poll and postal voting.

Between 13 and 15 February, the AEC distributed 127 900 House of Representatives and 77 040 Senate ballot papers to 99 Australian embassies, high commissions and consulates, to enable Australians, overseas at the time of the election, to vote.

Under the CEA the AEC is required to account for every ballot paper from the time the papers are printed, until they are no longer required. Strict security surrounds the printing, handling and storage of ballot papers to ensure the integrity of the electoral process.

	House of Representatives	Senate
NSW	7 116 375	5 423 200
VIC	6 000 000	4 000 000
QLD	4 012 520	2 744 100
WA	1 800 000	1 500 000
SA	1 711 190	1 317 200
TAS	545 500	456 600
ACT	309 000	303 300
NT	140 000	160 000
TOTAL	21 634 585	15 904 400