Kiama Council area is undivided, there are no wards. We are a whole of Council area single electorate with 9 councillors to be elected under the Proportional Representation system from 40 candidates split into 7 groups. 

In 2021 it took 39 counts to decide on the 9 positions on Kiama Council by transferring preferences.  

2 candidates, Stuart Larkins, Labor, and Warren Steele were elected without reaching a quota. To the surprise of many people, the Greens did not get their third candidate up, despite having a bit over 2.7 quotas when all the first preferences had been counted to Labor having a fraction under1.7 quotas and Warren Steel’s Group having less than 0.7 of a quota. This was because most voters just voted 1 above the line and their votes became exhausted.

So, your preferences matter.

Under the rules you must vote for at least 5 candidates. Then you may continue to number more candidates if you wish.

You can vote by group by numbering the boxes above the line, or you can ignore the groups and vote for candidates of your choice below the line. If you only number 1 or even 2 boxes above the line, or for only 5 to 10 candidates below the line, you risk exhausting your vote before all councillors are elected.

In a proportional voting system, a candidate is elected if they receive votes equal to or exceeding the quota for their council area. 

At the last council election, the quota for Kiama Council was 1502 after 15,016 formal ballots were cast by an 87% turnout of electors. This year’s quota is expected to be of a similar size but will ultimately depend on the number of formal votes cast.

After the count of first preferences is complete, each candidate who has reached quota is elected.

Where an elected candidate has a surplus of ballot papers over the quota, this surplus is transferred to those candidates not yet elected on a proportional basis to each voter’s next preferred candidate.

After each transfer of ballot papers (and their associated votes), if any more candidates have reached quota, they are elected and added to the queue of surpluses to be transferred. This transfer of surpluses continues (one at a time) until all have been transferred.

After this, if not all nine councillor positions have been filled, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is cut from the race. All the ballot papers received by this candidate, including those received from surplus transfers, are sorted to the continuing candidates according to their next available preference.

This process continues until all the vacancies are filled, whether or not they reach the quota.

With 9 councillors to be elected, it is so important that electors go beyond putting 1 in a box above the line and so just voting for 5 candidates all in that group.

If they do just vote 1, they may get their No 1 in, and possibly No 2, but they waste their 3, 4, and 5 votes, as the numbers 3, 4, and 5 candidates in a group mathematically have no chance of getting in. They will be eliminated almost inevitably after the transfer of surpluses from those elected on primary votes. The 3s, 4s, and 5s are there purely so that a group can get a box above the line.

Candidates with close to quotas, or large personal votes below the line, will stay in the race longer than most of the 3s, 4s, and 5s on group tickets.  

If voters want to have a real impact on the makeup of the next Council they must number several boxes above the line, or they will end up with some councillors being unexpectedly elected without needing to get a quota.

An approach you might like to follow for voting above the line by groups is numbering:

Put 1 in the box for the group containing your favourite candidate or candidates 

Put 2 in the box for the group containing your next favourite candidate or candidates

Put 3 in the box for the group with the least - worst.

Put 4 in the box for the next - least worst.

By then you will have voted for 20 candidates. You can continue numbering group boxes if you want, but it is optional. You do not have to number the boxes for the groups containing number 1s and 2s that you don’t want under any circumstances.

Voting below the line works on the same principle, but, as committed below the line voters know, you can be more creative.

Sandy Rendel