The well-known electoral pendulum lists seats according to the swing needed for each seat to change hands on either sides of the pendulum. Unfortunately, electoral swings are not necessarily uniform across seats and the pendulum is not a necessarily reliable predictor of election outcomes in particular seats. In this research note Gerard Newman attempts to...

Sally Young looks at the rise in the level of informal votes cast in the 2004 federal election, which highlights the need for funding to be restored to the Australian Electoral Commission so that it can conduct adequate community education programs, particularly in electorates with large numbers of Australians from non-English speaking countries. Such a...

Family First’s preferences helped get Labor across the line, but the party needs a new strategy in this changing electorate, according to Anne Tiernan.

An effective national debut won’t necessarily counter the doubts raised by the party’s origins and backers, writes Haydon Manning in this profile of Family First.

The Australian Parliament recently tightened section 93 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act to provide that a person serving a sentence of three years or more may not vote in national elections. Australia is not the only democratic country to debate the question of continued felon disenfranchisement. Richard L. Hasen discusses the very different situation in...