Counting the votes
On election night
The counting of votes is known as the scrutiny and it is usually observed by scrutineers nominated by the candidates. The scrutiny commences on election day in each polling place after 6pm when the polling place has closed. In polling places, ordinary ballot papers and those pre-poll ballot papers made by voters within their own division (pre-poll as ordinary votes) are counted on election night.
When the House of Representatives election and the Senate election are held in conjunction, the House of Representatives ballot papers are counted before the Senate ballot papers. If a referendum is held in conjunction with an election, the referendum ballot papers are counted after those of the election.
Polling officials are required to complete four main tasks after the close of polls. They are required to:
- count the first preferences on the House of Representatives ballot papers
- conduct a two-candidate-preferred (TCP) count of the House of Representatives ballot papers
- count the first preferences on the Senate ballot papers
- count and sort any declaration vote envelopes received during the day (these remain unopened).
The first preference results for House of Representatives ballot papers are tabulated and phoned through to the DRO, along with the number of informal votes. The DRO enters the results for each polling place into the AEC's national computerised election management system. These results are electronically fed to the media and into the Virtual Tally Room (VTR) on the AEC website as well as being transmitted to the National Tally Room (NTR) in Canberra, where they are placed on the National Tally Board.
Polling officials then conduct an indicative distribution of preferences (a TCP count for the House of Representatives) between the two previously identified leading candidates, to give an indication of the likely outcome of the poll in that division.
Next, the first preference votes on the Senate ballot papers – above and below-the-line – are counted, phoned through to the DRO and entered into the election management system.
Declaration envelopes containing absent votes, pre-poll declaration votes (i.e. those pre-poll votes cast outside an electors division), postal votes and provisional votes are checked by divisional staff. These can be checked from the Monday prior to polling day. However, they are not opened or admitted to the count until after polling day.
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