Proportional Representation Society of Australia Inc.
	Tel +61429176725	www.prsa.org.au	info@prsa.org.au	2025-08-17

Index ‘A-Z’ Click on a blue hyperlink of interest. See also Glossary of electoral terms. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
	A
	Accredited PR Vote-counting Officers, and Endorsed PR Vote-counting Software Operators
	Advances and Setbacks in Australia's electoral systems, and the side of politics instigating them
	Alternative vote is a synonym for a preferential vote in a single-vacancy poll – in the failed 2011 UK electoral referendum it was proposed that marking of preferences should be fully optional, as for the NSW Legislative Assembly
	Anglican Synods’ Electoral Systems
	'An impeccable electoral model' - 1988 'Quota Notes' article advocating a Hare-Clark electoral system for the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory
	Archived PRSA website pages maintained by 'Pandora' web archive at the National Library of Australia
	AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY proportional representation history at State and municipal level
	Australian Conservation Foundation Council poll results
	B
	Ballot-paper specimens, for quota-preferential PR polls, with a choice of 3 different formality rules
	Below-the-line voting, except for Victoria’s Upper House, is unfairly burdensome to voters. See a website that makes it easier.
	Bibliography of publications relating to proportional representation, some with hyperlinks to the publication
	C
	Campaign by NSW Senator Helen Coonan in 1998-99 to discriminate against independent and minor party voters at Senate elections
	CANADA proportional representation history at National and Provincial level
	Casual vacancies filled by party appointment where direct election by countback has not yet replaced that
	Casual vacancies in positions that were filled using PR are best filled by countback or a further count
	Categories of Voting Systems
	Cleese video urging quota-preferential (STV) proportional representation for the UK House of Commons: or our higher quality DVD
	Clients that have used the PRSAV-T Inc. vote-counting service
	COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA proportional representation history at National level – See also the Sub-index for the sections of this item.
	Constitutions of the PRSA, and of its New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria-Tasmania branches
	Constraints are not necessary or advisable in proportional representation elections
	Contact details for PRSA National Officers and Branches
	Countback, for filling casual vacancies in multi-member electoral districts that use quota-preferential proportional representation
	Countback in 2007 by-election in Whitehorse City in Victoria, properly electing candidate with 2.7% of first preference votes at the 2005 General Election
	D
	Democratic Representation under the Hare-Clark System - The Need for Seven-member Electorates: 1958 Report to the Tasmanian Parliament by Dr George Howatt
	Direct election of candidates is important.
	District magnitude, which is the number of representatives elected for an electoral district.
	Donkey voting is effectively counteracted using Robson Rotation, which applies for polls for both houses of Tasmania's Parliament, for all of Tasmania's municipal councils, and for the ACT Legislative Assembly.
	Droop quota or Hare quota - why the Droop quota has superseded the Hare quota.
	E
	Election Night Special is a 5-minute video on YouTube of a 1970 sketch by Monty Python’s Flying Circus. See also the transcript and commentary on it, which revealingly shows how the non-transferable votes in the UK’s first-past-the-post electoral system can let frivolous or nonsensical candidates, with hardly any votes, significantly and unreasonably affect the electoral fate of much more substantial candidates.
	Election results in Australia and other countries on the Psephos website
	Electoral Commissions and Parliaments in Australia
	Electoral Matters Committee of Parliament of Victoria: PRSAV-T Inc. 2007 written submission and oral evidence
	Electoral Representation Review submissions on municipal reviews to the Victorian Electoral Commission made by PRSAV-T Inc. up to 2008, and in 2019
	Electoral systems in Australia as summarized on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.
	Electoral systems in Australia that applied in the various States for the first federal election in 1901
	Electoral systems in the world
	Entrenchment of electoral provisions in the Federal, State and Territory constitutions
	Everybody Counts: A 17-page A5 booklet with a straightforward explanation of the Hare-Clark electoral system, by Neil Robson
	F
	First-past-the-post (Plurality) electoral systems have fatal flaws.
	First preference votes in quota-preferential PR systems are important, but are not the only votes that can form a quota. Large surpluses can lead to candidates receiving surplus transfers being elected without receiving any first preference votes at all.
	Freedom of information success in the 2000 appeal to VCAT by Anthony van der Craats, a PRSAV-T Inc. Life Member, to have Melbourne City Council provide him with preference data from an election
	G
	Gender incidence in a House with single-member divisions: The gender of MPs should be just one factor relevant to their being elected. Transferable voting allows political parties to pre-select more than one candidate for any division, so the voters can then decide, by their marked preferences, which one prevails. In the first five decades after Australia introduced transferable voting in its single-member electoral districts. there were 59 contests where voters had a choice of candidates within a party, and exercised that choice.
	Gerrymandering, whose name derives from its prominent United States instigator in 1812, is still a major weakness of U.S. electoral systems. That hyperlink explains it, and gives access to an electronic version of the Gerrymander Wheel, which is a small physical model invented by and available from the PRSA. See also the FairVote USA website. The Wheel gives a simple, convincing demonstration of how even the impartial placing of the boundaries of single-member electoral districts can drastically affect the electoral outcome, without a single vote changing, as in such districts - unlike multi-member districts, where a much larger percentage of voters are able to cast effective votes - only a bare absolute majority of votes is needed to elect the successful candidate. Australia's boundary placing for its single-member electoral districts can still help decide the outcome but, unlike the partisan placing in the USA, it is no longer, -since the institution of independent electoral commissions, - undertaken directly by Australia's federal, state or local governments, which have too great a self-interest in the electoral outcome.
	Glossary of electoral terminology
	Gregory Fractional Transfers of surplus votes: The Original, Unweighted Inclusive, and Weighted Inclusive
	Group Voting Tickets in elections for the Senate, all mainland State upper houses, and municipal elections in all the NSW municipalities that use PR, and for the City of Melbourne in Victoria
	Guest speakers at Annual General Meetings of Proportional Representation Society of Australia Inc. since 1979
	H
	Hansard references in Australian parliaments to the Proportional Representation Society of Australia
	Hare-Clark electoral system used in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory
	Hare quota or Droop quota - why the Droop quota has superseded the Hare quota.
	History of the PRSA and its purposes
	Honorary Life Members of the Proportional Representation Society of Australia
	‘How-to-vote’ cards used in Australian elections
	I
	Incorporation certificate for Proportional Representation Society of Australia Inc.
	Instigators of Australian electoral system Advances and Setbacks
	J
	Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters: PRSAV-T Inc. 2006 written submission & oral evidence to Inquiry into Civics & Electoral Education
	K
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	L
	Life Members of Proportional Representation Society of Australia Inc.
	Links to other sites
	M
	MALTA proportional representation history at National level
	Meek system of counting for quota-preferential (single transferable vote in multi-member electorates) polls
	Membership details and application forms for the various Branches of the PRSA
	Municipal electoral systems in Australia
	Model rules for electing a committee & filling casual vacancies: See Rules 22 & 23 of the PRSAV-T Inc. Constitution
	N
	National Officers since PRSA’s inception
	Newsletters of the PRSA, Quota Notes
	New South Wales 2011 elections: Preference data files are accessible at ftp.elections.nsw.gov.au The file size is up to 650 MB.
	NEW SOUTH WALES proportional representation history at State and municipal level
	NEW ZEALAND proportional representation history at State and municipal level
	NORFOLK ISLAND proportional representation history at Territory level
	NORTHERN TERRITORY proportional representation at Territory level
	O
	Odd number of positions to be filled, rather than an even number, is always recommended for use in a proportional representation election
	Officers of the PRSA since its inception
	Order in which candidates’ names appear on ballot-papers has important effects.
	Organizations that specify their electoral system in their Constitution or subsidiary rules
	P
	Parity among wards in municipal electoral systems
	Parliamentary electoral systems in Australia
	Parliaments and Electoral Commissions in Australia
	Party List systems of PR are inferior to quota-preferential systems of PR
	Party List systems have been initiated or introduced for 4 different Australian legislatures, but each was replaced by a quota-preferential PR system.
	Plurality (First-past-the-post) electoral systems have fatal flaws.
	Policies of PRSA nationally, and of PRSA's Branches
	Politicians that have advocated PR-STV
	Pork barrelling is a serious abuse found in single-member electoral systems, but far less in Hare-Clark
	Preferential voting systems are superior to non-preferential voting systems
	Proportional representation analyses of various Federal and State elections
	Proportional representation definition
	PRSA Rules for counting quota-preferential proportional representation elections
	PRSAV-T Inc. Council page
	Publications for sale
	Q
	QUEENSLAND proportional representation history at State and municipal level
	Quota definition: The definition is of the Droop quota, which is the quota used in modern quota-preferential systems rather than the earlier Hare quota.
	R
	Ranking of candidates elected at a quota-preferential (STV) poll, in an order of priority after their election
	Referendums, at which voters have been asked to choose between proportional representation systems and others, have succeeded in introducing PR systems.
	Regimentation of voters by legislative provisions, such as those for Senate ballot-papers, that allow parties to determine the order of candidates' names
	Regulations made by the Proportional Representation Society of Australia
	Regulations made by PRSA Branches
	Representation of voters relates to whom they freely choose - and not to whether the candidates they choose necessarily resemble them in some aspect - so an electoral structure to engineer their representation by somebody like them can distort voters’ wishes.
	Resources
	Robson, the late Hon. Neil, AM
	Robson Rotation
	S
	Safe seats are - for voters - a major weakness of single-member electorate systems.
	SOUTH AUSTRALIA proportional representation history at State and municipal level
	“Schoolboy election” example by Thomas Hill in 1820 shows how quota-preferential PR works where a secret ballot is not used
	Speakers from PRSAV-T Inc. will, at no charge, address Melbourne area meetings on proportional representation aspects of interest
	Stage management of elections, which began well before the above-the-line and below-the-line device was introduced for Senate ballot papers, and includes 'affirmative action' limits in preselections
	T
	“Tablecloth” ballot-paper (1010 x 720 mm) used in the 1996 New South Wales Legislative Council election
	Talks by election commentators to PRSAV-T Inc. members
	TASMANIA proportional representation history at State and municipal level
	Tasmanian state election reports beginning from 1909 – an excellent resource also available on the Tasmanian Electoral Commission website
	Topical matters
	Transferable vote systems are superior to non-transferable vote systems
	U
	UNITED KINGDOM proportional representation history at National and municipal level
	UNITED STATES OF AMERICA proportional representation history at National, State and municipal level
	V
	VICTORIA proportional representation history at State and municipal level
	Victoria-Tasmania Branch present and former Honorary Life Members and guest speakers at its previous Annual General Meetings
	Victoria's Constitution Commission 2002 Final Report
	Vote-counting Service for clubs, incorporated associations etc.
	"Voting - by party direction or by free choice?" 11979 Report to Tasmanian Parliament by Dr George Howatt
	W
	WESTERN AUSTRALIA proportional representation history at State and municipal level
	Winner-take-all electoral systems
	X
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	Y
	Yeates: the late Mrs Nancye Yeates
	“Your Vote – Effective or Wasted?” – A small, free booklet that compares, with illustrative diagrams, the counting methods used for the major single-vacancy and multiple-vacancy elections that Australia has used for public elections.
	Z
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