✶ Enrol · number · vote
Two papers,
every box numbered.
Enrolment and voting are compulsory for Australian citizens aged 18 and over. At a federal election you get two ballot papers: a green one for your House of Representatives division and a white one for the Senate.
Enrolment
On the roll
from 16.
- Who must enrol
- Every Australian citizen aged 18 or over who has lived at their address for at least a month must enrol and vote. British subjects enrolled before 26 January 1984 keep the vote.
- 16 and 17
- You can enrol at 16 or 17; you go on the roll automatically and may vote from your 18th birthday.
- How
- Online at aec.gov.au/enrol with an Australian driver licence, passport, Medicare card or citizenship number (or someone enrolled who can vouch for you). One enrolment covers federal, state, territory and local elections. The AEC also enrols people directly from government data (Federal Direct Enrolment and Update).
- Close of rolls
- For a federal election the roll closes at 8 pm on the seventh day after the writs are issued. There is no enrolment on polling day.
- If you do not vote
- Voting is compulsory (Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, s 245). Non-voters receive a penalty notice: give a valid reason or pay a $20 administrative penalty; unpaid matters can go to court, where the fine is one penalty unit plus costs.
The House · green paper
1, 2, 3,
to the last box.
Number every box, 1 for your first choice, then 2, 3 … in order of preference. If no candidate has a majority of first preferences, the last candidate's ballots are passed on by their next preference until someone has more than 50% — the two-candidate-preferred count.
A box left blank (more than one, or the last box blank when there are several), the same number twice, ticks or crosses, or anything identifying the voter. The 'savings' rule accepts a single unnumbered last box.
Practice ballot · House of Representatives · invented candidates
The green paper
Type a number in every square, 1 for your first choice, then 2, 3, 4 and 5.
House of Representatives
Ballot paper · State · Division of Practice
Number the boxes from 1 to 5 in the order of your choice
- ARCHER, JoParty A
- BELL, AriIndependent
- CHEN, MiaParty B
- DAVIES, TomParty C
- EVANS, LouParty D
Remember… number every box to make your vote count
Not yet formal: no vote indicated.
CEA s268(1)(c)
The Senate · white paper
Above the line
or below it.
A wide white paper split by a thick line. Above the line: number at least 6 party or group boxes; your preferences flow to that group's candidates in order. Below the line: number at least 12 individual candidates. Since 2016 there are no group voting tickets.
Only a single 1 above the line still counts (a savings rule), but fewer than 6 boxes below the line is informal. How the Senate count works →
Practice ballot · Senate · invented groups and candidates
The white paper
Either above the line, number at least 6 group squares; or below the line, number at least 12 candidates. Not both: if both are formal, only below the line counts.
Senate ballot paper · State of Practice · Election of 6 Senators
You may vote in one of two ways. Either: above the line, by numbering at least 6 of these boxes in the order of your choice (with number 1 as your first choice).
Or: below the line, by numbering at least 12 of these boxes in the order of your choice.
No vote indicated.
7 groups and 15 candidates. Ticks and crosses count as a 1 on a Senate paper (s 268A(2), s 269(1A)); on the House paper they make the vote informal.
Ways to vote
On the day,
early, or by post.
- Polling place on election day
Who Everyone. Elections are always on a Saturday; polls are open 8 am to 6 pm local time.
How Any polling place in your state or territory (outside your division you cast an absent vote); interstate voters use an interstate voting centre. Your name is marked off a certified list; no ID is needed.
AEC: Voting options - Early voting (pre-poll)
Who Voters who cannot attend on the day: away from their division, more than 8 km from a polling place, travelling, working, ill, caring, religious reasons, or fearing for their safety.
How In person at an early voting centre during the two weeks before polling day (federal elections, from the Monday 12 days before).
AEC: Voting options - Postal vote
Who The same grounds as early voting. Some voters (remote, ill, silent electors) can register as general postal voters and receive ballots automatically.
How Apply online or on a form; the AEC mails both ballot papers; complete them before the close of polls and return them within 13 days.
AEC: Voting options - Mobile polling
Who Residents of aged care homes, some hospitals, prisons, homeless shelters and remote communities.
How AEC teams visit during the election period; in remote areas teams travel by 4WD, light plane and boat.
AEC: Voting options - Telephone voting
Who Voters who are blind or have low vision, and (since 2022) electors in or travelling to Antarctica.
How Register by phone and choose a PIN; then, in the 10 business days before polling day or on the day, give your registration number and PIN to an AEC voting assistant, who records your vote while a second assistant witnesses and reads it back.
AEC: Telephone voting - Overseas
Who Enrolled Australians abroad (registered as overseas electors if away for up to six years).
How Postal vote, or in person at selected embassies and consulates.
AEC: Overseas voting
Informal votes · 2025 federal election
5.6% of House votes
did not count.
| State or territory | House informal | Senate informal | Turnout |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 8.06% | 4.45% | 91.58% |
| Victoria | 4.24% | 3.08% | 92.44% |
| Queensland | 4.93% | 3.05% | 88.66% |
| Western Australia | 3.95% | 2.60% | 88.15% |
| South Australia | 5.26% | 3.16% | 91.47% |
| Tasmania | 4.25% | 3.30% | 93.19% |
| Australian Capital Territory | 2.43% | 1.76% | 92.41% |
| Northern Territory | 3.99% | 3.25% | 70.83% |
| Australia | 5.60% | 3.45% | 90.70% |
NSW's high House informal rate is usually put down to habits from NSW state elections, where optional preferential voting lets a single '1' count; in a federal House election that ballot is informal.
AEC Tally Room 2025: House informal votes by state · AEC Tally Room 2025: Senate informal votes by state · AEC Tally Room 2025: House turnout by state
State and territory elections
Same voters,
different rules.
One enrolment covers every level, but each state sets its own voting rules. A ballot marked with a single 1 counts in a NSW state election and is informal in a federal House election.
| Jurisdiction | Lower house (or only house) | Upper house |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | Optional preferential: a single 1 is a valid vote | Optional preferential STV; at least 1 above the line or 15 below |
| Victoria | Full preferential | STV; at least 5 above or below the line from 2026 (group voting tickets abolished) |
| Queensland | Full preferential (compulsory since 2016) | Unicameral since 1922. |
| Western Australia | Full preferential | STV, one statewide electorate of 37 since 2025 |
| South Australia | Full preferential | STV statewide, 11 per election |
| Tasmania | Hare-Clark STV, 5 divisions × 7; number at least 7 boxes; the order of candidates is rotated (Robson rotation) and how-to-vote cards may not be handed out at polling places | Single-member, at least 3 preferences |
| Australian Capital Territory | Hare-Clark STV, 5 electorates × 5, Robson rotation, electronic voting at polling places | None |
| Northern Territory | Full preferential, single-member | None |
Polling day
The democracy sausage.
Schools and community groups that host polling places fundraise with barbecues and cake stalls; a sausage in a slice of bread is the polling-day tradition. 'Democracy sausage' was the Australian National Dictionary Centre's word of the year for 2016.
ANU Reporter: Democracy sausage wins Australia's 2016 Word of the Year
- Always on a Saturday
Federal polling day must be a Saturday (Commonwealth Electoral Act s 158); polling places are mostly local schools and church halls, and a large and growing share of voters now vote early or by post.
AEC: Voting options - How-to-vote cards
Party volunteers hand out cards outside polling places showing how the party suggests you number the ballot; they must stay 6 metres from the entrance. Following a card is entirely up to you.
AEC: Voting options - The ad blackout
Electronic-media election advertising (TV and radio) is banned from midnight on the Wednesday before polling day until polls close (Broadcasting Services Act 1992, Sch 2 cl 3A). It does not cover print, online or social media, and there is no ban on publishing opinion polls.
AEC: Electoral advertising