What are 'safe seats'?
Ballot box graphic
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
Ballot box graphic
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
Description
This graphic is a representation of a ballot papers being placed into a ballot boxes.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You are free to share – copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
Non-commercial – You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
No derivatives – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
No additional restrictions – You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Waiver – any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
Thanks for your question.
The Australian Electoral Commission classifies electorates as safe, fairly safe or marginal:
- In a safe seat, the winning candidate in a federal election receives more than 60% of the vote; it would require a very large swing – change in votes – for the winning candidate to lose this seat at the next election.
- It is considered a fairly safe seat when the winning candidate receives between 56 to 60% of the vote.
- A seat is classified as marginal when the winning candidate receives less than 56% of the vote. At the next election, it would take a smaller number of people to switch their votes to another candidate, for that candidate to win.