The Australian Electoral System: Origins, Variations and Consequences

Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1 Australian electoral system design Australian electoral systems: origins and variation Studying the operation of Australia's electoral systems Locating preferential electoral systems in Australia Assessing Australia's electoral systems 2 Australia's national electoral systems, 1902-83 Early debates over electoral system design The 1902 Commonwealth Electoral Act The adoption of AV for House of Representatives Reform of the Senate electoral system, 1918-83 Conclusion: accident and intent in electoral system design 3 Australia's contemporary electoral systems Australia's evolving electoral systems The alternative vote and its variants The single transferable vote and its variants Australia's experiments with alternatives to AV and STV Conclusion 4 Preferential systems and their consequences AV as a non-proportional system STV as a proportional system Preferential systems and the fate of individual candidates Conclusion 5 The voter versus the party Party service among election candidates Candidates views of their representative roles Campaign activity by Australian parliamentary candidates Conclusion 6 Compulsory voting, party control and the voter Compulsory voting in Australia Preferential voting and the strategic voter Ticket voting and the 'preferential voter' Compulsion, complexity and voter engagement Conclusion 7 Preferential systems and voter satisfaction Ballot structures and democracy Preferential Systems and voter satisfaction with democracy Electoral systems and political attitudes Conclusion 8 Preferential voting and electoral system design The politics of electoral system design Variations in electoral system families Electoral and behavioural consequences From innovation to stagnation: electoral system design Where to now? Appendix Notes Bibliography Index.