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Proportional Representation - Commonwealth Senate

		Commonwealth Senate
	Name of PR System	Senate System.
Ballot Paper	Ticket Voting Above or beside the line voting	Yes. Above the line voting.
	Rotation of candidate names	No. Order of names determined by the party or group.
	Directions	You may vote in one of two ways, either by placing the single figure 1 in one and only one of these squares to indicate the voting ticket you wish to adopt as your vote, or By placing the numbers 1 to [N] in the order of your preferences. (When N equals the number of candidates standing for election.) (2004 Senate Ballot paper)
	Formality	A vote above the line will be informal if: it has no first preference (or number 1) if there is more than one first preference. A vote below the line is informal if: it has no first preference a tick or cross has been used as a first preference there is more than one first preference there are 10 or more candidates and there are not numbers in at least 90% of the squares next to the candidates names, which form a sequence of consecutive numbers beginning with the number 1, without repetition or omission or numbers which would be such a sequence with changes to not more than three of them there are less than 10 candidates and there are not numbers in all of these squares next to the candidates names, or in all but one of those squares (which is left blank), which form a sequence of consecutive numbers beginning with the number 1, without repetition or omission, or numbers which would be such a sequence with changes to not more than two of them. A single cross or tick above the line is accepted as a first preference. Ticks and crosses are not accepted for voting below the line. Where the elector has marked both above and below the line formally, the vote below the line for individual candidates takes preference. Otherwise, if one side is informal, the formal side is counted.
Distribution of a Surplus	Method of distribution of surplus votes and calculation for new transfer value	All of the elected candidate's ballot papers are distributed to pass on the surplus votes. The transfer value is calculated as follows: Transfer Value =      Number of surplus votes                    Total number of ballot papers received
Election of a candidate	Exclusion of candidates	Bulk exclusion of candidates is permitted under certain conditions. All of the ballot paper parcels received by the excluded candidate are amalgamated by transfer value and distributed in decreasing order of magnitude.
	Exclusion of the lowest candidate when two or more are equal	Exclude the candidate that had the lowest total the last time those candidates were equal. If those candidates were equal at all times, exclude the candidate determined by the Australian Electoral Officer.
Casual Vacancies	How is a casual vacancy filled?	The new member is chosen by the relevant State/Territory Parliament. If the vacating Member was endorsed by a political party at the time of election, the replacement must if possible be a member of the same party.