State and Federal Elections

[BMan]

is there anyone that can give a simple explanation of how the voting system works?

I have heard that if the party doesnt have enough votes to win a seat they can give there votes to another party?

so you could vote for an independent as you might not want to vote for labour but the independent and may give there votes to labour and win a seat so you ended up voting for labour?

 

[Nemo30]

so you could vote for an independent as you might not want to vote for labour but the independent and may give there votes to labour and win a seat so you ended up voting for labour?

Depends how you vote.

Not sure what system you use for state elections in SA.

In a federal election your vote is counted as per your preferences. So for a house of reps seat, you number your preferences say 1- 5. Your vote will count against your number 1 preference. When all the votes are counted, the person with the lowest number of votes is knocked out and their votes are redistributed to the second preference on each of the ballot papers. This continues until all the votes are distributed and only 2 candidates remain.

For a senate seat the same process applies, however there is above the line voting and below the line voting.

If you vote above the line, you vote for 1 party of your choice. Your vote is then distributed according to pre-determined preferences. This is where your vote could accidentally go to a party not of your choice.

But, you also have the choice of numbering all the boxes below the line, which means your vote will be distributed according to the order you have ranked the candidates.