Preferential voting example
This graphic illustrates the process of distributing votes to elect a member in the House of Representatives.
Preferential voting in the House of Representatives
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
Preferential voting in the House of Representatives
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
Description
To be elected, a candidate must have an absolute majority of votes (more than 50% of the total votes). In the example below using 100 votes, the absolute majority is 51 or more.
First count: Maria receives 39 votes, Ari receives 35 votes, Joe receives 20 votes, Lauren receives 6 votes. No one has 51 or more votes, so Lauren’s votes are transferred (distributed) according to second preferences.
Second count: Maria is transferred 1 vote bringing her total to 40 votes. Ari is transferred 4 votes bringing their total to 39 votes. 1 vote is transferred to Joe, bringing his total to 21 votes. No one has 51 or more votes, so Joe’s votes are transferred (distributed) according to the next preferences.
Third count: 6 votes are transferred to Maria, bringing her total to 46 votes. 15 votes are transferred to Ari bringing their total to 54 votes.
Ari is elected with 54 votes.
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