[EM] New South Wales Legislative Council counting rules (Constitution Act schedule 6 part 2)

[David Catchpole]

I found it! I found it!

Part 2  Counting of votes at elections
        4
                        (1)     In this Part of this Schedule:
                                continuing candidate means a candidate not
already elected or not excluded from the count.
                                Council returning officer means the person
for the time being appointed by law to conduct periodic Council elections.
                        (2)     In relation to any stage of the scrutiny,
a reference in this Part of this Schedule to the surplus votes of an
elected candidate is a reference to the number at that stage by which the
elected candidate's votes exceed the quota, reduced by the excess, if any,
of the number at that stage of the elected candidate's votes on which a
next available preference for a continuing candidate is not indicated over
the quota.
        5
                                The method of counting the votes to
ascertain the result of a periodic Council election shall be as provided
in this Part of this Schedule.
        6
                                At the close of the poll the Council
returning officer shall ascertain the total number of first preference
votes recorded for each candidate on all ballot-papers not rejected by him
as informal and the total of all such votes.
        7
                                The Council returning officer shall then
determine a quota by dividing the total number of first preference votes
for all candidates by 22 and by increasing the quotient so obtained
(disregarding any remainder) by 1.
        8
                                Any candidate who has received a number of
first preference votes equal to or greater than the quota so determined
shall be elected.
        9
                                Where the number of first preference votes
received by a candidate is equal to the quota, the whole of the
ballot-papers containing those votes shall be set aside as finally dealt
with.
        10
                                Unless all vacancies have been filled, the
surplus votes of each elected candidate shall be transferred to the
continuing candidates, in proportion to the voters' preferences, as
follows:
                                (a)     The Council returning officer
shall divide the number of the elected candidate's surplus votes by the
number of first preference votes (excluding any first preference votes
indicated on ballot-papers which do not bear a next available preference
for a continuing candidate) received by him and the resulting fraction
shall, for the purposes of this clause, be the transfer value of that
candidate's surplus votes.
                                (b)     The Council returning officer
shall take all of the ballot-papers of the elected candidate on which a
next available preference is indicated for a continuing candidate and
arrange them in separate parcels for the continuing candidates according
to the next available preference indicated on them.
                                (c)     The Council returning officer
shall ascertain, from the parcel referred to in paragraph (b) in respect
of each continuing candidate, the total number of ballot-papers of the
elected candidate which bear the next available preference for that
continuing candidate and shall, by multiplying that total by the transfer
value of the elected candidate's surplus votes, determine the number of
votes to be transferred from the elected candidate to each continuing
candidate.
                                (d)     If, as a result of the
multiplication, any fraction results, so many of those fractions, taken in
the order of their magnitude, beginning with the largest, as are necessary
to ensure that the number of votes transferred equals the number of the
elected candidate's surplus votes shall be reckoned as of the value of
unity and the remaining fractions shall be ignored.
                                (e)     The Council returning officer
shall then determine the number of ballot-papers to be transferred from
the elected candidate to each continuing candidate.
                                (f)     The Council returning officer
shall then, in respect of each continuing candidate, forthwith take at
random, from the parcel referred to in paragraph (b) containing the
ballot-papers of the elected candidate which bear the next available
preference for that continuing candidate, the number of ballot-papers
determined under paragraph (e) and transfer those ballot-papers to the
continuing candidate.
                                (g)     The ballot-papers containing the
first preference votes of the elected candidate which have not been
transferred (that is, the ballot-papers containing the number of votes
equal to the quota) shall be set aside as finally dealt with.
        11
                        (1)     When the surplus votes of all elected
candidates have been transferred to the continuing candidates as provided
by clause 10, any continuing candidate who has received a number of votes
equal to or greater than the quota shall be elected.
                        (2)     Unless all the vacancies have been filled,
the surplus votes of the elected candidate shall be transferred to the
continuing candidates in accordance with the provisions of clause 10, but,
in the application of those provisions, only those ballot-papers which
have been transferred to the elected candidate from a candidate previously
elected shall be taken into consideration.
        12
                        (1)     If, as a result of the transfer of the
surplus votes of a candidate elected in pursuance of clause 11 or elected
at a later stage of the scrutiny, a continuing candidate has received a
number of votes equal to or greater than the quota, he shall be elected.
                        (2)     Unless all the vacancies have been filled,
the surplus votes of the elected candidate shall be transferred to the
continuing candidates in accordance with the provisions of clause 10, but,
in the application of those provisions, only those ballot-papers which
have been transferred to the elected candidate from the candidate or
candidates elected at the last preceding count shall be taken into
consideration.
        13
                                The ballot-papers containing the first
preference votes of a candidate who has been elected in pursuance of the
provisions of clause 11 or 12, together with the ballot-papers transferred
to him from a candidate previously elected or excluded which have not been
further transferred, shall be set aside as finally dealt with.
        14
                        (1)     If, after the transfer of the surplus
votes of the elected candidates, no candidate has, or less than the number
of candidates required to be elected have, received a number of votes
equal to the quota, the candidate who has the fewest votes shall be
excluded and the whole of his ballot-papers shall be transferred to the
continuing candidates next in order of the voters' available preferences.
                        (2)     If thereupon, or as the result of the
exclusion of a candidate at any subsequent stage of the scrutiny, a
continuing candidate has received a number of votes equal to or greater
than the quota, he shall be elected.
                        (3)     Unless all the vacancies have then been
filled, the surplus votes of the elected candidate shall be transferred to
the continuing candidates in accordance with the provisions of clause 10,
but, in the application of those provisions, only those ballot-papers
which have been transferred to the elected candidate from the candidate
last excluded shall be taken into consideration.
                        (4)     The ballot-papers containing the first
preference votes of the elected candidate, together with the ballot-papers
transferred to him from a candidate previously elected or excluded which
have not been further transferred, shall be set aside as finally dealt
with.
                        (5)     If no continuing candidate has then
received a number of votes equal to the quota, the process of excluding
the candidate with the fewest votes and the transferring of ballot-papers
containing those votes to the continuing candidates shall be repeated
until a continuing candidate has received a number of votes equal to the
quota or, in respect of the last vacancy, a majority of the votes
remaining in the count, but the process of excluding candidates shall not
be repeated after the number of continuing candidates is equal to the
number of unfilled vacancies.
                        (6)     A ballot-paper that under this clause is,
pursuant to the exclusion of a candidate, required to be transferred to a
continuing candidate shall be set aside as finally dealt with if it does
not indicate a next available preference for a continuing candidate.
        15
                                After all the candidates who have received
a number of votes equal to the quota are elected:
                                (a)     where there is 1 remaining
unfilled vacancy the candidate who has received a majority of the votes
remaining in the count, or
                                (b)     where the number of continuing
candidates is equal to the number of remaining unfilled vacancies those
candidates,
                                shall be elected.
        16
                                Where, on the count of the first
preference votes, or at the same time at any subsequent stage of the
scrutiny, 2 or more candidates are elected by reason of their having
received a number of votes equal to or greater than the quota, any
transfer of the surplus votes of those candidates shall be carried out in
the order, first of the candidate with the largest surplus, second of the
candidate with the next largest surplus and so on.
        17
                        (1)     Notwithstanding anything contained in this
Part of this Schedule, a transfer of the surplus votes of an elected
candidate shall be deferred (but without affecting the order of that
transfer) so long as the total number of those surplus votes and any other
surplus votes not transferred is less than the difference between the
total votes of the 2 continuing candidates with the fewest votes.
                        (2)     In any such case, unless all vacancies
have been filled, the candidate with the fewest votes shall be first
excluded and the ballot-papers containing his votes shall be transferred
to the continuing candidates as provided in clause 14 (1).
        18
                        (1)     If, on any count, 2 or more candidates
have an equal number of votes, and 1 of them has to be excluded, the
candidate whose name is on the slip drawn in accordance with subclause (4)
of this clause shall be excluded.
                        (2)     If, at the time of their election, 2 or
more candidates have an equal number of votes that is more than the quota,
the candidate whose name is on the slip drawn in accordance with subclause
(4) of this clause shall, for the purposes of clause 16, be deemed to have
had the larger or largest surplus.
                        (3)     If, on the final count for filling the
last vacancy, 2 candidates have an equal number of votes, 1 candidate
shall be excluded in accordance with subclause (1) of this clause and the
other shall be elected.
                        (4)     For the purposes of subclauses (1) and (2)
of this clause, the names of the candidates who have an equal number of
votes having been written on similar slips of paper by the Council
returning officer and the slips having been folded by him so as to prevent
the description being seen and having been mixed, 1 of those slips shall
be drawn at random by him.



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