Overview

Hi all! Welcome to the geekLections SRC Election Website. As the count progresses on the night (and following days) you can come here to see the likely outcomes of all of the races.

SRC election graphs, counts and updates can be found at the following links.

Honi

Honi Soit Editors

SRC

SRC Councillors SRC President

NUS

NUS Delegates

There are four races being run concurrently, and I will outline how each of them will work, and how the counting is done. Because of the complexity of the count, it may take a week or two to count the votes completely for the SRC and NUS. However, with primary votes counted (in a day or two) it should be reasonably clear what candidates are elected to NUS. Presidential and Honi races will be counted on the night of the 26th.

Honi Soit & SRC President

Method: Single Transferrable Vote

Every group/candidate (henceforth, candidate) has the total number of votes with a '1' for them (first preferences) counted towards their total. In the case of only two candidates (as with Honi Soit this year), the candidate with the most first preferences wins the election.

In the case of multiple candidates, this first count occurs, and then the candidate currently in last place is excluded from the race. Then the ballots for that candidate are read to see if they have a second preference (i.e. a 2). If the vote has a second preference, then the vote moves to that candidate with the same value as every other individual vote for that candidate.

This process is repeated until either there are only two candidates left, or one candidate gets over 50% of the votes that are remaining.

SRC

Method: Static Quota and Preferential

Currently the system being used by the University of Sydney Union, as well as the Proportional Representation Society of Australia. Simply put, with 33 spots up for grabs, if you're able to get more than "just over" 1/34 votes, then you are mathematically guaranteed to be elected.

A descriptive example:

If there are 3 spots, 4 candidates and 100 votes. If you are able to get 25 votes (i.e. 1/4), there is a small chance you may not be elected. This occurs when every candidate gets 25 votes each, and then a cointoss decides who wins and loses. However, if you get 26 votes, there is no mathematical way you cannot be elected, no three other candidates can possibly get in front of you, no matter where you put those votes.

This number (specifically integer) is called the quota and is defined as:

quota = floor(	number of votes	) + 1
	number of positions + 1

Any votes you receive in excess of the quota are distributed to other people in the race, in order with the preferences that have been outlined on each ballot. This is done using ballot papers which have reduced weight. For example, if a candidate gets exactly two quotas on the first count, then every ballot paper that candidate has will get a new value of 50%, and move to the second preferences on those ballots. This value is called the Transfer Value and is defined as:

transfer value = min(1,	total votes that brought this candidate to quota - quota	)
	number of those votes with second preferences

The remainder of the election is treated in much the same way as the Single Transferable Vote, until either all vacancies have been filled, or until there are only as many candidates left as there are vacancies.

NUS

Method: Floating Quota and Preferential

This method is identical to the above, but the quota is recalculated at each step for candidates who are not elected. The aim of this is to reduce the effect of loss of votes from expiry (i.e. when a vote has no more numbers on it for candidates that are still in the race). This only slightly complicates things mathematically and realistically does nothing for the fairness of the count.