What Happens at Legislative Council Elections?

To be elected as a Member, a person must be an elector, or be entitled to have his / her name placed on the roll for a Legislative Council division;

and

or

A person is ineligible to be nominated as a candidate for an Legislative Council election if he or she is: a member of the House of Assembly; or a candidate for election in another division of either House for which the writ has not been returned; or a member of the Parliament of the Commonwealth.

• by a registered party,
• as an individual.

The candidate page contains more information and the relevant forms.

The nomination form must be received before noon on the day the nomination period closes. All candidate nominations must include a $400 nomination deposit.

The returning officer will refund the $400 nomination deposit if the nominated candidate has:

• been elected;
• not been elected but, at any stage of the scrutiny obtained a number of votes which is not less than 20% of an absolute majority of votes;
• withdrawn his/her nomination as a candidate before 12 noon on nomination day; or
• died before polling day.

If an election fails, the deposit will be returned to all candidates.

At past elections, approximately 2 000 votes has been required to receive a refund.

If you wish to be nominated as a candidate, you should first carefully read the TEC’s Candidate Guide and the candidate information page on the TEC website. You should also consult the Electoral Act 2004 which can be accessed on-line at Tasmania's legislation online.

At 12 noon on the day following the close of nominations, the names of the candidates contesting the election are officially announced.

Once the candidates have been announced, the draws for positions on the ballot paper are undertaken. At a Legislative Council election, all candidate names are included in a single column.

The order of the candidate names are rotated for all Tasmanian parliamentary and local government ballot papers. This is to ensure that preferred positions on the ballot paper are shared equally between all candidates.

After the draw for the first rotation has been completed, ballot papers can be produced. The first group of ballot papers are produced quickly so they can be used for sending out postal votes and issuing early pre-poll votes. A second, much larger run of ballot papers is produced for using in polling places.

A full list of candidates is published in the relevant daily newspapers a few days after the announcement of candidates. The candidate names are shown in alphabetical order.

After the ballot draws have been completed, ballots papers can be produced for pre-poll, postal and express voting.

Draw for ballot paper position

The names of all candidates are placed inside the blue balls pictured. The balls are then placed in a container large enough for the balls to move about freely. Before the balls are taken out, the container is shaken and rotated, the balls are then removed one at a time.

The order of the names on the first ballot paper rotation is the name of the candidate in the first ball taken out. The second ball will reveal the name of the candidate who will be second on the ballot paper. The third ball will provide the name of the third candidate on the ballot paper and so on until all the candidates are listed on the ballot paper in the order they are taken out of the container.

Pre-poll voting, postal voting and express voting are available as soon as the list of candidates is confirmed.

Polling day is Saturday, 5 May 2018. Polls are open from 8 am to 6 pm, AEDT.

You may vote in any polling place on polling day.

The last day you can vote at an interstate electoral office is the Friday before polling day. Contact the office directly for opening hours.

Election rolls for all divisions will be available at every polling place. This means you can cast an ordinary vote at any polling place in Tasmania.

Immediately after the polls close, counting of first preferences begins at the polling places and the figures are provided to the returning officers. These preliminary results will be posted to the TEC website as they become available.

There is no central tally room on election night for Legislative Council elections. Preliminary results will also be posted to this election website and ElectionsTas smartphone app as they become available.

Although election night results can give a good indication of who is likely to be elected it may be necessary for preferences to be distributed before the results can be confirmed.

There is a 10 day period after polling day for postal votes to return from overseas and interstate. During this period Returning Officers will organise formality rechecking on all ballot papers and progressively accept and process returning postal votes.

Postal votes must be recorded before the close of voting on 5 May. For the 2018 Legislative Council elections, the Returning Officer must receive postal votes no later than 10am on Tuesday 15 May.

During this 10-day period, the Electoral Commission may direct the Returning Officer to undertake a provisional distribution of preferences to determine the likely outcome of the election.

A provisional distribution is where the election count is conducted using the votes already received.

If the provisional distribution can show which candidate will be elected, the declaration of the poll can occur before the end of the 10-day period.

However, at some stage during the provisional distribution, the number of outstanding postal votes may be too large to be sure of the order of exclusion of candidates. When this occurs the election outcome may not be clear until the final postal votes have been received.

Once the deadline for the return of postal votes has occurred, the returning officer will formally commence the distribution of preferences.

The Declaration of the Poll is a short ceremony at which the Returning Officer formally announces the successful candidates. Successful candidates are asked to speak, followed by other candidates present who may wish to do so. The Declaration of the Poll is open to candidates, the media and the public.

Following the declarations, the writs for the elections will be returned to Her Excellency the Governor.

Under the preferential voting system used at Legislative Council elections a candidate must obtain an absolute majority of the formal vote to be elected.

If no candidate has an absolute majority of the vote from first preferences, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is excluded. This process of excluding candidates continues until someone obtains an absolute majority.