Australian Federal Voting Practice

Today's charts take a quick look at the number and proportion of formal votes cast at recent Federal elections by vote type in the House of Representatives. Before each chart is a quick definition of the vote type.

An Absent Vote is cast on election day, but at a polling place outside of the voter's electorate, but still within the state or territory.

An Ordinary Vote is cast on election day at a polling place within the electoral division for which a voter is enrolled.

A Postal Vote is cast by post because the voter cannot attend a polling place in their state or territory on election day.

A Pre-poll Vote is cast at an early voting centre or an AEC divisional office before election day.

A Provisional Vote is one cast when a voter's name cannot be found on the certified list, the voter's name is already marked off the certified list as having voted, or the voter is registered as a silent elector.

Yielding a total formal vote count as follows.

A Formal Vote is cast when the ballot paper has been marked according to the rules for that election and can be counted towards the result. A ballot paper that does not meet the rules for formality is called informal and cannot be counted towards the result.