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Informal Voting in the House of Representatives 1983-2022

The table below shows the percentage of informal votes in each federal election since 1983.

An informal vote is one that has been incorrectly completed or not filled in at all. They are not counted towards any candidate.

According to Section 268 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act (1918), a vote is informal if:

  • The ballot paper is not marked at all.
  • The ballot paper does not have the official mark and has not been initialled by the polling official and the ballot paper is not authentic in the opinion of the Divisional Returning Officer (DRO).
  • The ballot paper has writing on it which identifies the voter.
  • In the case of an absent vote the ballot paper is not contained in the declaration envelope.
  • The voter has not marked a vote correctly for it to be considered acceptable.

A formal ballot paper must contain the number 1 and sequential numbers thereafter. Only one candidate may be left un-numbered because it will be assumed this is the voter’s final preference.

The most common forms of informal votes are those where the ballot paper is blank, or where the voter has incorrectly numbered the candidates by only numbering one candidate or using non-sequential numbers or ticks and crosses.

Informal Voting (%) in House of Representatives Elections 1980-2022
1980 1983 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 2019 2022
NSW
2.4
2.2
5.7
4.6
3.1
3.1
3.6
4.0
5.4
6.1
5.0
6.83
7.59
6.17
7.01
6.22
VIC
2.7
2.2
7.5
5.3
3.5
2.8
2.9
3.5
4.0
4.1
3.3
4.50
5.19
4.77
4.66
4.71
QLD
1.8
1.3
4.5
3.4
2.2
2.6
2.6
3.3
4.8
5.2
3.6
5.45
5.13
4.70
4.95
4.17
WA
2.7
2.0
7.1
6.6
3.7
2.5
3.2
4.2
4.9
5.3
3.9
4.82
5.38
3.99
5.44
5.52
SA
2.8
2.0
7.1
6.6
3.7
4.1
4.1
4.5
5.5
5.6
3.8
5.46
4.85
4.18
4.81
5.12
TAS
2.6
2.3
5.9
5.0
3.3
2.7
2.4
3.1
3.4
3.6
2.9
4.04
4.04
3.98
4.39
5.85
ACT
2.1
2.2
4.7
3.5
3.0
3.4
2.8
2.9
3.5
3.4
2.3
4.66
3.83
2.76
3.49
2.46
NT
4.9
4.4
4.6
5.8
3.4
3.1
3.4
4.2
4.6
4.4
3.9
6.19
6.30
7.35
4.69
5.31
AUST
2.5
2.1
6.3
4.9
3.2
3.0
3.2
3.8
4.8
5.2
4.0
5.55
5.91
5.05
5.54
5.19

Source: Australian Electoral Commission publications.

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Malcolm Farnsworth
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