PA HOG said:
Slightly off the subject but............................
There seems to be a variety of methods used to elect representitives to all the parliaments in Australia. Are there over ten different voting systems in use? Have any of you posters tallied them up?
They all use the preference system. The quota is just dependent on the number of members being elected to the seat.
For single member constituencies, like the House of Reps, the quota is 50%.
There are some slight variations...
NSW & Qld use optional preference voting. (i.e. you don't have to number every square.)
NSW has done away with the dogs breakfast ticket system. You can put multiple numbers above the line. Your vote will never reach a party you did not preference.
Some states design their upper houses differently. Some are divided into multiple divisions. NSW is one that isn't. Qld doesn't have an upper house.
Tasmania and ACT have multi-member lower house electorates. And there's no above-the-line at all, at least not in the ACT.
WA has smaller rural lower house electorates.
I think that about covers it.