Rodney Stevens
The 2023 NSW election is only days away with the Dominic Perrottet led Coalition taking on Chris Minns’ Labor party to determine who governs the state for the next four years on March 25.
In the state seat of Clarence, voters have the choice between eight candidates in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and in the Legislative Council (upper house) 21 members from across the state will be elected to serve a maximum of two terms or eight years.
Legislative Assembly (Lower House) 93 members
The Legislative Assembly candidates for Clarence are Brett Duroux (Indigenous Aboriginal Party), Debrah Novak (Community Independent), Greg Clancy (Greens), Leon Ankersmit (Labor), Nicki Levi (Independent), Richie Williamson (Nationals), George Keller (Sustainable Australia Party) and Mark Rayner (Legalise Cannabis Party).
The method of voting for the Legislative Assembly is known as optional preferential voting where a voter can place just a ‘1’ in the box next to the candidate they want to elect, or they have the option of allocating further preferences by placing consecutive numbers, beginning with the number ‘2’, in the squares next to the names of additional candidates.
“To be elected, a candidate must receive more than half the number of the first preference votes taken in the electoral district,” states the NSW Electoral Commission.
“If no candidate receives more than half of the first preference votes, a distribution of preferences takes place.
“In this process, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their ballot papers are distributed to the remaining candidates, according to the next available preference shown on them.
“Those ballot papers on which only a first preference is shown cannot be distributed and are set aside as exhausted.
“This process is repeated with one candidate being eliminated each time, until a candidate has more than half the number of the votes remaining in the count.”
Legislative Council (Upper House)
The Legislative Council is comprised of 42 members, and at each state election, 21 members are elected to serve two terms of parliament, via a system known as optional preferential proportional representation, where voters have the choice of group or individual voting.
In a group vote, only one group need be selected, in individual voting, at least 15 candidates must be voted for in the order of preference of each voter.
This may be achieved by voting ‘1’ in one of the group voting squares above the line, and then numbering other group voting squares if desired in the order of the voter’s preferences; or by numbering at least 15 squares below the line for individual candidates.
“The counting of the votes is based upon the 21 candidates being elected each having obtained a “quota” of votes, with typically 4.55% of the total valid primary votes being sufficient for a candidate to gain a seat in the LC,” the NSW Electoral Commission states.
“If fewer than 21 candidates receive a quota, a process of transferring preferences from the candidates with the least primary votes begins until all vacancies are filled.
“The count and distribution of preferences are conducted using the NSW Electoral Commission’s computer system.
“Achieving a final result is complex, as surplus votes (i.e. those a candidate receives above the quota of 4.55%) are redistributed to other candidates using a formula, and this process, the count and distribution of preferences via the NSW Electoral Commissions computer system, continues until all 21 Members of the Legislative Council have been elected.”
Voting Options
Residents now only have three voting options available: Voting in person on the day, early voting/prepoll, and telephone assisted voting for people who are blind or vision impaired, after postal voting closed on March 6.
The NSW Electoral Commission also visits “declared institutions” including select hospitals, nursing homes and aged care homes, allowing residents to vote.
Early voting began on Saturday, March 18 and runs until Friday, March 24, at the early voting centres for Clarence at Maclean and Grafton.
People can still vote early if they are out of their electorate by completing an absent vote, which doesn’t require photo identification.
Online voting, which was widely used in the 2021 council elections, is not available in this election.
All Australian citizens aged 18 and over must be enrolled to vote, which can be done on the Australian Electoral Commission website.
If you are not enrolled to vote you can still do so at this election by filling out a declaration vote and showing photo identification with the person’s current address.
Unless you have Covid-19 or are so unwell you can’t make it to a polling booth, every adult in NSW must vote, or face a fine of $55, which can increase to $110 if unsuccessfully disputed in court, or $120 if the fine is overdue and referred to Revenue NSW.