When Do You Vote for House of Representatives

By voting at elections for the Business firm of Representatives the people of each electoral partitioning (also called an electorate or a constituency) select a person to represent them in the House. Past selecting their representatives the voters, or electors, indirectly select the nation's government, because the government is formed from the party or alliance of parties (coalition) which has a majority (or the back up of a majority) of the Members of the Business firm of Representatives.

When are elections held?

Under Australia's Constitution each House of Representatives may last no more than three years from the first meeting of the House after an election, just may be dissolved sooner. Full general elections are and so held to elect all Members of the House of Representatives, according to the timetable below.

If a seat in the Business firm becomes vacant betwixt general elections, for example, if a Member resigns or dies, a past-ballot is held to elect a new Member to represent that electorate until the next general election.

Who can stand for ballot?

Candidates for ballot must be Australian citizens and be eligible to vote. Senators, Members of Country Parliaments, public servants, including defence force personnel, and officers of the Balloter Committee are not eligible to become Members of the House of Representatives and must resign their position if they wish to nominate for election to the House. Some public service bodies take arrangements to allow unsuccessful candidates to rejoin the public service later the election. People who are citizens of, or agree allegiance to, a foreign country; who are undischarged bankrupts; or who take been convicted of certain offences are also not eligible to become Members.

Candidates must be nominated by a political party or by at least 100 electors of the electorate to be contested. However, a sitting Fellow member who was elected equally an independent needs nomination past merely one elector, if they wish to stand again for the same seat. On nomination candidates pay a eolith of $2,000. This is returned if the candidate is elected or receives at least 4 per cent of the (first preference) votes cast in the electorate.

Who votes?

Australian citizens who are 18 years of historic period or older are required to enrol as voters unless they are not eligible considering, for instance, they are of 'an unsound mind' or serving a sentence of imprisonment of 3 years or more. Voting is compulsory for all people enrolled. People who exercise not vote may be fined.

Who conducts the election?

The Australian Electoral Commission, a statutory authorization headed by the Balloter Commissioner, is responsible for the assistants of all Commonwealth balloter matters including, for case, the bear of elections, the maintenance of upwardly to date lists of electors (electoral rolls) and the drawing of electorate boundaries. An election takes identify in response to a formal order (writ) from the Governor-General (or the Speaker in the case of a past-election) requiring the Balloter Commissioner to bear an election. For a general election a single writ is issued for each land and territory.

AEC staff counting the votes on an election 24-hour interval

Voting

The ballot newspaper for each electoral division lists candidates' names and shows the parties they correspond (if they practice not represent a party, candidates may request to exist shown every bit an 'Contained'). Candidates are listed in a random order, determined by drawing lots.

The arrangement of voting used in elections for the House of Representatives is preferential, that is, voters have to rank all candidates in order of preference—they may not simply vote for one candidate. Voters are directed to mark their vote on the ballot paper past placing numbers in the squares opposite the names of the candidates and so as to indicate their order of preference, for case, if there are three candidates, by writing the numbers 1, ii and three in the appropriate squares. Election papers which are incorrectly filled out (breezy) are non valid and are non included in the count.

Preferential voting is designed to produce the election of the candidate who is most representative of the wishes of an electorate. To exist successful a candidate must be supported past the majority (that is, more than than half) of voters. This system is considered fairer than a non-preferential (first-past-the-mail service) system under which the candidate with the well-nigh votes is elected, fifty-fifty though he or she may take back up from less than one-half the voters.

The result—declaration of the poll and return of the writs

The effect of each election is announced (declared) as soon as possible after counting has been completed in the electoral division. Following a general election, when the results for all divisions have been declared the Electoral Commissioner certifies on each writ the proper name of the successful candidate for each division and returns the writs to the Governor-General, who in turn forwards them to the Clerk of the Firm of Representatives.

The validity of an election may be challenged past a petition addressed to the Court of Disputed Returns (the High Court acting in a special capacity). This may occur if it is declared that a candidate was not eligible to get a Fellow member for one of the reasons listed before in this infosheet or if it is claimed that at that place has been some irregularity in the election process.

Disclosure of income and expenditure, public funding

All candidates are required to make returns to the Electoral Commission detailing any donations they take received for electoral purposes and electoral expenditure they have incurred or authorised. Political parties also have to submit almanac returns or copies of their audited accounts. Disclosure laws besides apply to other people involved in the balloter procedure. This data is publicly available on the Electoral Commission website.

Candidates who receive at least 4 per cent of the (first preference) vote are reimbursed for electoral expenses by a specified amount for each such vote they receive. Ballot funding is paid either to a registered political party on behalf of each endorsed candidate or is paid directly to a candidate who is non endorsed by a registered party. This amount (which was approximately $2.75 per vote for the election held on 18 May 2019) is indexed for aggrandizement.

Balloter divisions

Australia is currently divided into 151 electoral divisions, each represented by one Member. Nether the Constitution each existing state is guaranteed at least five Members, but all states except Tasmania now have more, the numbers depending on their population. States may gain or lose Members as a effect of population movements. Because of Australia's uneven distribution of population, electoral divisions differ profoundly in area, ranging from 32 sq. km (Grayndler, NSW) to over 1.6 meg sq. km (Durack, WA). At June 2019, there was an boilerplate of approximately 109,718 electors per electorate.

Electoral boundaries are reviewed regularly and, if necessary, adjusted (redistributed) to reflect population changes. The aim of redistribution is to ensure that electoral divisions within each state or territory comprise approximately an equal number of electors. The last redistribution occurred on 31 Baronial 2017, resulting in an increase in the number of electorates from 150 to 151 at the 2022 general election (with the Human activity gaining the new seat). The number of electoral divisions in each of us and territories is below:

New S Wales	47
Victoria	38
Queensland	30
Western Commonwealth of australia	16
Due south Commonwealth of australia	10
Tasmania	v
Australian Uppercase Territory	3
Northern Territory	2
TOTAL	151

When is the side by side general election?

The last possible date for the next election is inside 68 days from the expiry of the Business firm. Every bit the 46th Parliament first met on Tuesday two July 2019, information technology is due to expire on Friday one July 2022. The next ballot for the House of Representatives must therefore be held by 3 September 2022, the last Saturday within the 68 twenty-four hours period. However, an ballot may be held at whatsoever time before that date.

Every bit House of Representatives and half-Senate elections are usually held simultaneously, the earliest date for such an election would be Saturday seven August 2021.

As the latest possible date for a one-half-Senate election is Saturday 21 May 2022, the latest possible date for a simultaneous (half-Senate and House of Representatives) election is besides Saturday 21 May 2022.

For more information

Firm of Representatives Practice , 7th edn, Department of the House of Representatives, Canberra, 2018,
pp. 85–106.

Australian Electoral Commission website: world wide web.aec.gov.au

Image courtesy of Arthur Mostead, AEC.

Timetable for general elections

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Source: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/Powers_practice_and_procedure/00_-_Infosheets/Infosheet_8_-_Elections_for_the_House_of_Representatives