I've been reading up on Australian senate elections. From what I've read, they just use a pencil to mark the ballots so they would have to be counted by hand. Hand counting the ballots might not be that bad if you are just looking for a plurality winner, but the whole voting system seems like such a lengthy and tedious process. Would any Australians on here tell me how long you guys have to wait for results?

Results are usually available that night, depending on how close the election is.

Here's more detail that you'd ever want to know.

Quote: Original post by ManaStone
they just use a pencil to mark the ballots so they would have to be counted by hand

Not necessarily. Here in Canada ballets are also marked in pencil, but they are machine counted. Results are usually available on election night.

The "big picture" result (including one of the major parties making a concession speech) is known on election night. The actual rock-solid results take 2 weeks I think.

Quote: Original post by Scet

Quote: Original post by ManaStone
they just use a pencil to mark the ballots so they would have to be counted by hand

Not necessarily. Here in Canada ballets are also marked in pencil, but they are machine counted. Results are usually available on election night.

Votes are counted by hand in Australia. We have a complicated preferntial system and voting is done by numbering the candidates from 1 to N. The Senate vote is a little more complicated than that, as well...

Just to clarify what I said in my last post, we usually find out who the Prime Minister (for Federal Elections) is going to be on the night, but it usually takes a few more days/weeks for all of the votes to be sorted out and hence the complete make-up of the Senate/House. Most people don't really care about that, though :-)

Yes, the general numbers in the House of Representatives is usually decided on the night, a few hours after the polls close. There's usually at most only a handful of seats that are close enough to be too hard to call.

The Senate is a little more complex. There's multiple seats available per state, and there's usually dozens and dozens of candidates. I think it takes days or weeks to be sure, especially for that last senate seat. It's usually not something everyone is on tenterhooks about, as it's the makeup of the House of Reps that forms government. It's usually only a big issue if there's a question where the balance of power lies.

Quote: Original post by Scet
Here in Canada ballets are also marked in pencil, but they are machine counted.

Er? First I've heard of that. I'd be impressed by a machine that could do that accurately, considering how we draw Xs and fold ballots by hand.

Quote: Original post by Zahlman

Quote: Original post by Scet
Here in Canada ballets are also marked in pencil, but they are machine counted.

Er? First I've heard of that. I'd be impressed by a machine that could do that accurately, considering how we draw Xs and fold ballots by hand.

I'd think it would work just like a scantron.

Quote: Original post by Straudos

Quote: Original post by Zahlman

Quote: Original post by Scet
Here in Canada ballets are also marked in pencil, but they are machine counted.

Er? First I've heard of that. I'd be impressed by a machine that could do that accurately, considering how we draw Xs and fold ballots by hand.

I'd think it would work just like a scantron.

Scantrons work with the conductivity of the lead, which is why you have to fill in the entire bubble. Here we just mark an X.

I'm pretty sure they are not machine counted, at least not in my electoral riding. The people present to handle the ballot boxes also empty and count them.

But yeah, we know by the end of the night (and have some sense of how the election is progressing from east to west as each electoral riding/voting location hits their closing time, counts the ballots, and dimes in).