Rights and freedoms
Commonwealth Electoral Legislation Amendment Act 1983
21 February 1984
‘Above the line’ voting is introduced in Senate elections to help make voting easier.
At the 1983 Senate election almost 10% of votes were not counted because voters did not number each candidate on the ballot paper in order of their preference. To help make sure all voters could have their say, ‘group ticket’ or ‘above the line’ voting was introduced for Senate elections. Voters now had the option to mark a single box above the line for their preferred political party or group of candidates, or to mark all the candidates below the line in their order of preference. This change reduced informal voting in Senate elections to around 3.5%.
More changes were made to the way senators are elected by the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Act 2016. Now, voters need to mark six or more preferences above the line or twelve or more preferences below the line on the ballot paper for their vote to count.
Sample Senate ballot paper – voting above the line
Australian Electoral Commission
Sample Senate ballot paper – voting above the line
Australian Electoral Commission
Description
This image is of a sample Senate ballot paper showing how to cast a valid vote above the line. There is a printed black horizontal line through the ballot paper. There are 7 boxes with 'Party' written above the line. These boxes have been numbered 1 to 6, one box has been left blank. There are many boxes with 'Surname, Given names, party' written below the line. All the boxes below the line have been left blank.
Permission should be sought from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) for third-party or commercial uses of this image. To contact the AEC email: media@aec.gov.au or phone: 13 23 26.