Countback is a system for filling casual vacancies, and is used for:

Countback operates by re-examining the votes from the original election, either:

  • the quota of votes that elected the vacating candidate (as used in Tasmania and the ACT), or
  • all the votes from the election (as used in Victoria).

This ensures that the people that fill casual vacancies, unlike the unelected party appointees that fill casual vacancies by party appointment in the Senate, have all been directly elected by the people.

Countback was enacted after John Humphreys urged it in his 1915 visit to save STV. Countback also usefully increases voters’ choices, as it encourages parties to nominate more candidates than just the bare minimum number from their party that they believe will be elected.

Further information:

  • Tasmania’s current consolidated Electoral Act 2004 (No. 51 of 2004) replaces its Electoral Act 1985, which was the first consolidation made since the original Electoral Act 1907 (7 Edw. VII No. 6). Scrolling down below shows extracts relating to COUNTBACK from the Electoral Act 1985. Section 231 of that Act, whose effect is continued in Section 231 of the 2004 Act, provides for countback.
  • Section 233 of the 1985 Act, whose effect is continued in Section 232 of the new and current Act, was introduced to give the Parliamentary Leader of a Party certain choices if there is no continuing candidate available from that Party, but such a case has not arisen since countback was introduced in 1918. Access Tasmania’s official election reports, which detail Assembly countbacks from 1942 onwards.
  • View the atypical countback scrutiny in Tasmania that first elected Dr Bob Brown.
  • View the counting sheets of a Victorian and recent Tasmanian municipal countbacks.
  • View the helpful and detailed explanation of countback procedure by the ACT Electoral Commission.
  • View the Victorian Electoral Commission explanation of countback.