Voting Systems in Tasmania - A Summary

Current as at October 2016.



See Glossary below for explanations of some of the terminology in these tables.




House of Assembly
Also known as Lower House
(House of Assembly elections are known as the State election)
Number of Members 25 Members, including the Premier
5 Members per division
Number of Divisions 5
Term of Office Up to 4 years
Voting Systems Proportional Representation - Hare-Clark system;
Partial Preferential;
Robson Rotation
Enrolment Compulsory enrolment for Australian citizens 18 years & over, if lived at current address for 1 month or more.
Electoral Legislation Constitution Act 1934
Electoral Act 2004
Electoral Regulations 2005
Notable features Electioneering and 'how-to-vote' cards not permitted on polling day.
Redistribution of Electoral Boundaries Usual practice is to adopt Commonwealth boundaries after each Commonwealth redistribution.





Legislative Council
Also known as Upper House, or
House of Review
Number of Members 15 Members
1 Member per division
Number of Divisions 15
Term of Office 6 years
Periodic cycle electing 2 or 3 divisions each year
Voting Systems

Partial Preferential;
Robson Rotation
Enrolment Compulsory enrolment for Australian citizens 18 years & over, if lived at current address for 1 month or more.
Electoral Legislation Constitution Act 1934
Electoral Act 2004
Electoral Regulations 2005
Notable features Electioneering and 'how-to-vote' cards not permitted on polling day.
Redistribution of Electoral Boundaries Every 9 years, unless 4 divisions vary by more than 25% from average.





Local Government
Also known as Councils, or
Municipal areas
Number of Councillors 7, 8, 9, 10 or 12, depending on the Council;
263 Councillors in total
Number of Councils 29
Term of Office 4 years
Voting Systems Proportional Representation - Hare-Clark - Partial Preferential for Councillors;
Optional Preferential for Mayor & Deputy Mayor;
Robson Rotation
Enrolment Same as State Roll, plus owners and occupiers on each Council's General Manager's Roll.
Electoral Legislation Local Government Act 1993
Local Government (General) Regulations 2015
Notable features Elections are entirely a postal ballot.
Adjustment of Boundaries Boundaries adjusted by Governor, on recommendation of Local Government Board.




Glossary

Glossary of electoral terminogy used in this summary

  • Hare-Clark -
    A system of counting votes when each division has more than one elected representative.
  • Optional Preferential -
    First preference must be made, further preferences are optional.
  • Partial Preferential -
    The elector must make a minimum number of preferences - usually this is the number of members to be elected.
  • Periodic Cycle -
    For the Legislative Council, 3 members are elected one year, & 2 members the next. This is repeated three times, then the 6 year cycle begins again.
  • Proportional Representation -
    A system of voting designed to elect representatives who receive a specified proportion (or quota) of the formal votes. Hare-Clark is a type of proportional representation used at Lower House, and Local Government Councillor elections.
  • Redistribution of Boundaries -
    Moving the geographical boundaries that define the area that a member or members in a Parliament, or Councillors represent, to accommodate shifts in population.
  • Robson Rotation-
    The process of rotating the names of the candidates on the Ballot Papers, so that favoured positions (i.e. top and bottom of the ballot paper) are shared equally between all candidates.





Infographic

Electing 2 Houses of Parliament

A great infographic comparing the differences in electing the 2 houses of Parliament in Tasmania.

  There are currently 25 members in the House of Assembly. In 2022, legislation was passed by Parliament to increase this number to 35 members at the next State election.


Infographic [JPEG, 926KB]