Can we count on your vote?

Glossary

Australian Electoral Commission. The independent organisation that is responsible for conducting federal elections and referendums. It also maintains the Commonwealth electoral roll. For more information see Australian Electoral Commission.

criteria of fairness. See Fairness criteria (The Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Alabama, USA).

electorate. The total number of all qualified voters within specified boundaries. The boundaries of an electorate can be changed.

parliament. A political assembly of the representatives of a nation.

quota. The prescribed number of votes needed to win an election. In the Australian Senate, the quota is dependent upon the number of senators being elected. For example, the quota needed when there are two senators being elected is one vote more than one-third of all votes, and the quota needed when there are twelve senators being elected is one vote more than one-thirteenth of all votes.

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Posted August 1999.