(Continued from previous post)

What happens on Sunday?

  • There is unlikely to be significant movement in the tally room figures on the Sunday after election day. This is not because the AEC is not working – rather, it’s a day or sorting and transport to setup for fresh counts.
  • Votes cast away from a person’s home division need to be transported in order to be entered into the count. In addition, these votes also undergo a process called ‘preliminary scrutiny’ – an enrolment validation – prior to being admitted to the count.

What happens with close seats?

  • Close seats will be prioritised wherever possible as the counting period progresses.
  • On most days throughout the voting period all votes that are available to be counted for a particular electoral division, are counted. Transport takes time – interstate and overseas votes are transported back to central counting facilities progressively. Postal votes have up until 13 days after election day to arrive back to the AEC.

When will official seat declarations occur?

  • The AEC must count each ballot paper at least twice in a process called ‘fresh scrutiny’ – this occurs in the days after election night in order to double check the numbers.
  • The AEC cannot declare a House of Representatives seat unless it is mathematically certain. This means that the potential number of votes still to be counted must be smaller than the margin in the seat.

How does the full Senate count work?

  • Senate results can only be calculated and declared after the process of scanning and verifying of Senate ballot papers is completed.
  • Each Senate ballot paper, and every preference marked by a voter, is verified by a staff member. This will take a number of weeks to occur as Senate ballot papers contains hundreds of millions of preferences.
  • Further information about the Senate count