South Australian Consolidated Regulations South Australian Consolidated RegulationsSchedule 1—Method of counting votes
(1) In this
Schedule—
continuing candidate means a candidate not already elected or excluded from
the count;
election of a candidate means the making by the returning officer of a
provisional declaration that the candidate has been elected, and elected has a
corresponding meaning;
surplus votes of an elected candidate means the excess (if any) over the quota
of the elected candidate's votes.
(2) For the purposes
of clause 2, a reference to votes of or obtained or received by a
candidate includes votes obtained or received by the candidate on transfer
under that clause.
The conduct of the counting of the votes in an election will occur according
to the following method:
(a) the
number of first preference votes given for each candidate and the total number
of all such votes must be ascertained and a quota determined by—
(i)
dividing the total number of first preference votes by 1
more than the number of candidates required to be elected; and
(ii)
increasing the quotient so obtained (disregarding any
remainder) by 1,
and, if a candidate has received a number of first preference votes equal to
or greater than the quota, the returning officer must make a provisional
declaration that the candidate has been elected;
(b) if
the total number of all first preference votes does not exceed 150, the number
of votes of a particular kind contained in the ballot papers will, for the
purposes of this clause (including paragraph (a)), be taken to be the
number obtained by multiplying the number of votes of that kind contained in
the ballot papers by 100;
(c)
unless all the vacancies have been filled, the surplus votes of each elected
candidate must be transferred to the continuing candidates as follows:
(i)
the number of surplus votes of the elected candidate must
be divided by the number of first preference votes received by that candidate
and the resulting fraction will be the transfer value;
(ii)
the total number of the first preference votes for the
elected candidate that are contained in ballot papers that express the next
available preference for a particular continuing candidate must be multiplied
by the transfer value, the number so obtained (disregarding any fraction) must
be added to the number of first preference votes of the continuing candidate
and all those ballot papers must be transferred to the continuing candidate,
and, if a continuing candidate has received a number of votes equal to or
greater than the quota on the completion of a transfer, the returning officer
must make a provisional declaration that the candidate has been elected;
(d)
unless all the vacancies have been filled, the surplus votes (if any) of a
candidate elected under paragraph (c), or elected subsequently under this
paragraph, must be transferred to the continuing candidates in accordance with
paragraph (c)(i) and (ii) and, if a continuing candidate has received a
number of votes equal to or greater than the quota on the completion of a
transfer, the returning officer must make a provisional declaration that the
candidate has been elected;
(e) if a
continuing candidate has received a number of votes equal to or greater than
the quota on the completion of a transfer under paragraph (c) or (d) of
the surplus votes of a particular elected candidate, no votes of any other
candidate may be transferred to the continuing candidate;
(f) for
the purposes of the application of paragraph (c)(i) and (ii) in relation
to a transfer under paragraph (d) or (h) of the surplus votes of an
elected candidate, each ballot paper of the elected candidate that was
obtained on a transfer under this clause must be dealt with as if any vote it
expressed for the elected candidate were a first preference vote, as if the
name of any other candidate previously elected or excluded had not been on the
ballot paper and as if the numbers indicating subsequent preferences had been
altered accordingly;
(g) if,
after the counting of first preference votes or the election of a candidate
and the transfer of the surplus votes (if any) of the elected candidate that
are capable of being transferred, no candidate has, or less than the number of
candidates required to be elected have, received a number of votes equal to
the quota, the candidate who has the fewest votes must be excluded and all the
excluded candidate's votes must be transferred to the continuing candidates as
follows:
(i)
the total number of the first preference votes for the
excluded candidate that are contained in ballot papers that express the next
available preference for a particular continuing candidate must be
transferred, each first preference vote at a transfer value of 1, to the
continuing candidate and added to the number of votes of the continuing
candidate and all those ballot papers must be transferred to the continuing
candidate;
(ii)
the total number (if any) of other votes obtained by the
excluded candidate on transfers under this clause must be transferred from the
excluded candidate in the order of the transfers on which they were obtained,
the votes obtained on the earliest transfer being transferred first, as
follows:
(A) the total number of votes transferred
to the excluded candidate from a particular candidate that are contained in
ballot papers that express the next available preference for a particular
continuing candidate must be multiplied by the transfer value at which the
votes were so transferred to the excluded candidate;
(B) the number so obtained (disregarding
any fraction) must be added to the number of votes of the continuing
candidate;
(C) all those ballot papers must be
transferred to the continuing candidate;
(h) if a
continuing candidate has received a number of votes equal to or greater than
the quota on the completion of a transfer under paragraph (g) or (i) of
votes of an excluded candidate, the returning officer must make a provisional
declaration that the candidate has been elected and, unless all the vacancies
have been filled, the surplus votes (if any) of the candidate so elected must
be transferred in accordance with paragraph (c)(i) and (ii), except that,
if the candidate so elected is elected before all the votes of the excluded
candidate have been transferred, the surplus votes (if any) of the candidate
so elected must not be transferred until the remaining votes of the excluded
candidate have been transferred in accordance with paragraph (g)(i)
and(ii) to continuing candidates;
(i)
subject to paragraph (k), if, after the exclusion of
a candidate and the transfer of the votes (if any) of the excluded candidate
that are capable of being transferred, no continuing candidate has received a
number of votes greater than the quota, the continuing candidate who has the
fewest votes must be excluded and his or her votes transferred in accordance
with paragraph (g)(i) and (ii);
(j) if a
candidate is elected as a result of a transfer of the first preference votes
of an excluded candidate or a transfer of all the votes of an excluded
candidate that were transferred to the excluded candidate from a particular
candidate, no other votes of the excluded candidate may be transferred to the
candidate so elected;
(k) in
respect of the last vacancy for which 2 continuing candidates remain, the
returning officer must make a provisional declaration that the continuing
candidate who has the larger number of votes has been elected despite the fact
that number is below the quota and, if those candidates have the same number
of votes, the candidate with the larger number of votes at the last preceding
count or transfer will be taken to be elected and, if the number of votes at
that count or transfer was equal, the returning officer must, in the presence
of any scrutineers who may be present, draw lots to determine which of the
candidates is to be elected;
(l)
despite any other provision of this clause, if, on the completion of a
transfer of votes under this clause, the number of continuing candidates is
equal to the number of remaining unfilled vacancies, the returning officer
must make a provisional declaration that those candidates have been elected;
(m) for
the purposes of this clause—
(i)
the order of election of candidates will be taken to be
in accordance with the order of the count or transfer as a result of which
they were elected, the candidates (if any) elected on the count of first
preference votes being taken to be the earliest elected; and
(ii)
if 2 or more candidates are elected as a result of the
same count or transfer, the order in which they will be taken to have been
elected will be in accordance with the relative numbers of their votes, the
candidate with the largest number of votes being taken to be the earliest
elected but, if any 2 or more of those candidates each have the same number of
votes, the order in which they will be taken to have been elected will be
taken to be in accordance with the relative numbers of their votes at the last
count or transfer before their election at which each of them had a different
number of votes, the candidate with the largest number of votes at that count
or transfer being taken to be the earliest elected and, if there has been no
such count or transfer, the returning officer must, in the presence of any
scrutineers who may be present, draw lots to determine the order in which they
will be taken to have been elected;
(n)
subject to paragraphs (o) and (p), if, after a count or transfer under
this clause, 2 or more candidates have surplus votes, the order of transfers
of the surplus votes of those candidates will be in accordance with the
relative sizes of the surpluses, the largest surplus being transferred first;
(o)
subject to paragraph (p), if, after a count or transfer under this
clause, 2 or more candidates have equal surpluses, the order of transfers of
the surplus votes of those candidates will be in accordance with the relative
numbers of votes of those candidates at the last count or transfer at which
each of those candidates had a different number of votes, the surplus of the
candidate with the largest number of votes at that count or transfer being
transferred first but, if there has been no such count or transfer, the
returning officer must, in the presence of any scrutineers who may be present,
draw lots to determine the order in which the surpluses will be dealt with;
(p) if,
after a count or transfer under this clause, a candidate obtains surplus
votes, those surplus votes will not be transferred before the transfer of
surplus votes obtained by any other candidate on an earlier count or transfer;
(q) if
the candidate who has the fewest votes is required to be excluded and 2 or
more candidates each have the fewest votes, whichever of those candidates had
the fewest votes at the last count or transfer at which each of those
candidates had a different number of votes will be excluded but, if there has
been no such count or transfer, the returning officer must, in the presence of
any scrutineers who may be present, draw lots to determine which candidate
will be excluded;
(r) if a
candidate is elected by reason that the number of first preference votes
received, or the aggregate of first preference votes received and all other
votes obtained on transfers under this clause, is equal to the quota, all the
ballot papers expressing those votes must be set aside as finally dealt with;
(s) a
ballot paper must be set aside as exhausted where on a transfer it is found
that the paper expresses no preference for a continuing candidate;
(t) for
the purposes of this clause, a transfer under paragraph (c), (d) or (h)
of the surplus votes of any elected candidate, a transfer in accordance with
paragraph (g)(i) of all first preference votes of an excluded candidate
or a transfer in accordance with paragraph (g)(ii) of all the votes of an
excluded candidate that were transferred from a particular candidate will each
be regarded as constituting a separate transfer.