New data – NSW 2019 election results

I've added a new dataset to my data repository. This dataset covers the entire results of the 2019 New South Wales state election. The dataset includes voting figures at the polling place and electorate level for both houses, including two-candidate-preferred and two-party-preferred data for the...

Brisbane City – final boundaries

The final ward boundaries for Brisbane City Council were released last Friday. These boundaries will apply for next March's council election. The changes from the draft boundaries were relatively mild, although it was enough to push Doboy from being very marginal for the LNP to...

QLD council elections 2020 – ward redistributions

I've posted a few times recently about the Brisbane City Council ward redistribution, but it's not the only Queensland council redrawing its electoral boundaries. A total of 17 councils are undergoing redistributions during this council term in the lead-up to next March's election. So far 11...

Queensland government backflips on compulsory preferences for councils

The Queensland government has dropped the key piece of its council reform package, by abandoning plans to change the council voting system, a change that would have likely boosted Labor's chances of taking control of the City of Brisbane. The original package included a variety...

Victoria 2018 – Voter numbers keep rising thanks to enrolment boost

The Victorian Electoral Commission has published more information about turnout at the 2018 state election as part of their submission to the inquiry into that election, with some interesting bits I wanted to pull out. In particular, there's evidence that turnout dropped due to...

The pre-poll surge: what, exactly, is the problem?

A parliamentary inquiry into the 2019 federal election has recently finished receiving submissions, and amongst other issues a number of commentators have bemoaned the growing numbers of voters casting their votes early. Federal minister Paul Fletcher is worrying about how the volume of pre-poll voting...

Victoria 2018: informal voting trends

The Electoral Matters Committee (EMC) of the Victorian parliament is currently holding an inquiry into the conduct of the 2018 state election, and as part of that process the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) has provided a long and detailed submission into the election, and...

No names above the line hurt independents

The Senate race in the Australian Capital Territory often promises to get interesting, but never really does. The quota for election in the ACT is just over one third of the total formal vote, and the two seats have been split evenly between Labor...

Breaking up the Senate? Why it’s such a bad idea

The Australian reported on Sunday about an idea from Queensland LNP senator James McGrath that would see the Senate broken up so that senators represent "provinces" within each state. While details are scarce, this proposal would see the end of proportional representation in the Senate, would...

Exhausted votes in the Senate drop in 2019

Opponents of Senate voting reform in 2016 focused a lot of attention on the danger of votes exhausting - which happens when a voter hasn't marked a preference for any of the remaining candidates. The rate of exhausted votes was relatively low in 2016, but...