As the flames of the democracy sausage sizzle fire up and people meander towards the voting booth for the Federal Election this Saturday 21 May, knowing your way around the ballot paper will come in handy for making your vote count.  

Whether it's your first time or tenth time at the voting booth, and if you’re politically inclined or not, the various sheets of paper is enough to overwhelm anyone when unprepared. 



Making Your Vote Count

To make your vote work for you and have your say in who leads Australia, it pays to know your way around the preferential voting system. 

While historically, the Parkes electorate is considered a ‘safe’ seat for the Nationals Party, preferential voting means that voting for a smaller Party or independent candidate is still worthwhile, if that way inclined. 

In the preferential voting system, there are multiple rounds of vote counts until one candidate receives more than 50 per cent of votes, meaning that your vote doesn’t end with who you put first. 

If your number one preference receives the least amount of votes across the electorate, then that candidate will be eliminated, with your vote instead put towards who you voted for second. 

This continues until a winner becomes clear by achieving more than 50 per cent of votes, and becomes the member for your electorate in the House of Representatives, and your senators who will represent the state in the Federal Senate. 

It’s worthwhile keeping in mind that in a Federal election, whichever Party has the most elected members in the House of Representatives across the nation will form Government, and the leader of that Party will become Prime Minister. 

At The Booth

To make your vote ‘technically’ count, the least you can do is fill out the ballot papers correctly (see below). Votes completed incorrectly risk being deemed ‘informal’ votes, and won’t be counted. 

On election day, you will be given two ballot papers you need to complete; a large white one for the Senate, and a small green one for the House of Representatives.

When it comes to the House of Representatives, you’ll recognise a list of names that have been campaigning over the last six weeks, all vying for the Federal seat of the Parkes electorate, currently filled by Nationals member Mark Coulton. 

In the boxes next to those candidates, number them from ‘1’ in order of who you want to be elected. 

For the Senate, there’s two ways you can vote: above or below the line.

If voting above the line, you need to number at least six parties in your order of choice to help elect the six senators that will represent NSW in Parliament. 

If voting below the line, you will be able to see the name of those candidates (and their Party), and can vote for them individually, meaning that you can choose one candidate from a certain Party, without having to vote for someone else in the same party. 

Keep in mind that voting below the line means you need to number at least 12 boxes for your vote to count. 

The polls open at 8am and close at 6pm. Click here to find your closest polling places.