Editing Single transferable vote (section)

==Balloting==
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2023}}
[[File:Ballot paper for the 2016 ACT election.jpg|thumb|right|A single transferable vote ballot paper for the electorate of [[Brindabella electorate|Brindabella]] in the [[2016 Australian Capital Territory election]]]]
In STV, each voter casts just one vote although multiple seats are to be filled in the district. Voters mark first preference and can provide [[Ranked voting|alternate preferences]], to be used if needed.

Alternate (secondary) preferences may be required or strictly optional depending on the system used. Some systems declare a ballot spoiled if it is not marked with at least a set number or minimum number of preferences. Rules vary. Sometimes a voter is allowed to mark just their first preference (plump) and not mark any more. In [[Australian Capital Territory]] elections, voters are told they must mark at least five preferences if the ballot is to be counted.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Fact sheet – Ballot papers | url=https://www.elections.act.gov.au/education/act_electoral_commission_fact_sheets/fact_sheets_-_general_html/elections_act_factsheet_ballot_papers | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150304215617/http://elections.act.gov.au/education/act_electoral_commission_fact_sheets/fact_sheets_-_general_html/elections_act_factsheet_ballot_papers | archive-date=4 March 2015}}</ref> Even where second and subsequent preferences are marked, in some cases they may not be consulted at all, such as if the first preference candidate is elected at the end of the count to fill the last seat.

Under full-preferential voting, a voter must rank all candidates. Under [[optional preferential voting]], a voter can mark as many preferences as they desire. Under semi-optional preferential voting, the voter is required to rank some number of candidates greater than one but less than the total number of candidates in the running. A vote not fully marked as per requirement under full-preferential voting or semi-optional preferential voting may be declared rejected altogether or declared rejected when, in the course of the vote count process, the vote's insufficiency has an effect on the count. Under some full-preferential voting systems, it is impossible to have many votes declared exhausted and thus, in systems that use the Droop quota and sometimes under systems that use the Hare, all, or almost all, winners will receive quota. But at the same time, where most voters must rank all the candidates, some candidates may be neither elected nor eliminated, and their votes may be given no chance to be transferred to where they can contribute to the election. 

But where there are many exhausted votes, as happens often under optional or semi-optional preferential voting systems, it is possible to have three winners in a district elected with partial quota, even if the [[Droop quota]] is used. But in any election, where one or more candidates are elected with partial quota, all the candidates, except for one, are either elected or eliminated, with only one unsuccessful candidate still in the running at the end.<ref>Farrell and McAllister, The Australian Electoral System, p. 57-60</ref><ref>A Report on Alberta Elections (1948 election in Calgary)</ref><ref>Cork North Central results 2024  https://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=2024&cons=57</ref>

In practice, the candidates' names are usually organized in columns so that voters are informed of the candidates' party affiliations or whether they are standing as independents. Voters indicate their preferences by ranking the candidates in order of preference. They usually use numbers (1, 2, 3 etc.) to show this, with 1 representing the voter's first preference.

An alternative way to mark preferences for candidates is to use columns for the voters' preference with the name of each candidate appearing in each column. A marking in the first column indicates the most preferred candidate. A marking in the second column indicates the second-preference candidate, etc.

Some balloting systems allow [[group voting ticket|ticket voting]], where a voter simply indicates preference for a party slate, sometimes even ranking party slates, instead of marking preferences for individual candidates.