How voting works in WA

A plain-words guide to State elections in Western Australia.

1. Getting on the roll

You must enrol if you are 18 or older, an Australian citizen, and have lived at your address for at least one month. You can enrol early, from age 16. This is called provisional enrolment. When you turn 18 you go onto the roll automatically and you are ready to vote.

One enrolment covers Federal, State and local government elections. You can enrol online, or use a paper form. You will need ID such as a driver’s licence, Medicare number or passport. If you have none of these, someone already on the roll can confirm who you are.

Enrolment closes soon after an election is called. For the 2025 State election it closed at 6pm on Thursday 13 February. Do not leave it to the last minute.

Source: WA Electoral Commission – Enrol, Enrolment for 16 year olds, State election FAQs.

2. Voting is compulsory

If you are enrolled, you must vote in State elections, by-elections and referendums. If you do not vote and have no valid reason, the fine is $50 the first time and $75 if you have been fined before.

Source: WAEC – Didn’t Vote?

3. Two houses, two ballot papers

WA’s Parliament has two houses. You get a ballot paper for each.

• Legislative Assembly (lower house): 59 districts. Each district elects one member. The party or group with a majority here forms government.
• Legislative Council (upper house): 37 members, elected by the whole State voting together. It reviews and can block or change laws.

4. The Legislative Assembly: number every box

On the small ballot paper you number every box, starting with 1 for your favourite.

To win, a candidate needs more than half of the formal votes. If nobody gets there on first choices, the candidate with the fewest votes is knocked out. Their ballot papers move to whoever each voter numbered next. This repeats until someone has more than half.

Source: WAEC – Voting Systems in WA.

5. The Legislative Council: one big statewide vote

From the 2025 election, the old six regions were replaced by one electorate covering the whole State. All 37 members are elected by everyone, and every vote counts the same no matter where you live.

You have two ways to vote on the big white ballot paper:

• Above the line: number one or more party or group boxes, in your order. Your preferences follow the candidates in each group you numbered.
• Below the line: number at least 20 individual candidates, in your order. You can number more.

The old “group voting tickets” are gone. Parties can no longer decide where your preferences go when you vote above the line. Only your own numbers move your vote. Parties can still hand out how-to-vote cards suggesting an order, but you choose.

Source: WAEC – Voting Systems in WA; Parliamentary Library – Electorate profile, Western Australia.

6. What is a quota?

In the Council, a candidate is elected when they reach a set number of votes called a quota. The formula is:

Quota = (total formal votes ÷ (seats + 1)) + 1, ignoring any fraction.

With 37 seats, that means dividing by 38. At the 2025 election the quota was 40,898 votes, about 2.63% of the 1,554,107 formal votes.

Source: WAEC – Transferring Surplus Votes in the WA Legislative Council; WAEC – 2025 State Election Results and Statistics.

7. How preferences move

Two things can happen during the Council count:

1. Someone has more than a quota. They are elected. The extra votes (the surplus) move on to each voter’s next choice, but at a reduced value, so nobody’s vote is counted twice.
2. Nobody else can reach a quota. The lowest candidate is knocked out. Their ballot papers move to each voter’s next choice. Votes that were first choices for that candidate move at full value. Votes they picked up from someone else’s surplus move at the same reduced value they arrived with.

This repeats until all 37 seats are filled.

Source: WAEC – Voting Systems in WA.

8. A worked example (made-up numbers)

These are example numbers only, not real results.

Imagine a small election for 3 seats with 10,000 formal votes.

Quota = (10,000 ÷ 4) + 1 = 2,501.

Step 1. Red (3,500) and Blue (3,000) pass the quota and are elected.

Step 2. Each winner keeps exactly one quota. Red’s extra 999 votes and Blue’s extra 499 votes move on to voters’ next choices at a reduced value. Say Red’s 999 split 600 to Gold and 399 to Green, and Blue’s 499 split 299 to Purple and 200 to Green. Now: Green 2,399, Gold 1,600, Purple 999. Nobody else has a quota.

Step 3. Purple is lowest and is knocked out. Say 900 of Purple’s votes have Gold as the next number, and 99 have no further numbers. Gold now has 2,500. Green still has 2,399.

Step 4. Only two candidates are left for one seat, so the one with more votes wins. Gold takes the third seat, even though Gold came fourth on first choices.

Check: Red 2,501 + Blue 2,501 + Gold 2,500 + Green 2,399 + 99 stopped = 10,000.

That is how preferences can elect a smaller party. Notice the 99 votes with no further numbers stopped there. They are called “exhausted” votes.

9. Why a vote for a small party is not wasted

Some people worry that voting 1 for a small party, like the Libertarian Party, throws their vote away. It does not. In the lower house you number every box, so your vote always counts in the final result. In the upper house, it keeps counting as long as you keep numbering.

• If the party you put first is knocked out, your ballot paper moves to your next choice at full value. It still helps decide who wins.
• If you number more boxes, your vote has more chances to count. If you stop at 1 and your choice is knocked out, your vote stops there.
• Every first-choice vote is counted and published. Parties, media and MPs see how much support each idea has.

So you can vote for what you actually believe in first, then number the rest in the order you prefer.

10. Quick checklist

• Enrol from 16, and keep your address up to date.
• Lower house: number every box.
• Upper house: number at least 1 box above the line, or at least 20 below. More numbers mean more say.
• Put your real first choice first.

Check the WA Electoral Commission for official, up-to-date rules before each election.