Editing Australian Senate (section)

===Ballot paper===
The Australian Senate voting paper under the single transferable vote proportional representation system resembles the following example (shown in two parts), which shows the candidates for [[Victoria (Australia)|Victorian]] senate representation in the [[2016 Australian federal election|2016 federal election]].

[[File:Victorian-senate-paper-folded-01.png|640x640px|thumb|center|Senate ballot paper used in Victoria for 2016]]

To vote correctly, electors must either:
* Vote for at least six parties above the thick black line, by writing the numbers 1–6 in party boxes. Votes with fewer than six boxes numbered are still admitted to the count through savings provisions.
* Vote for at least twelve candidates below the thick black line, by writing the numbers 1–12 in the individual candidates' boxes. Votes with between six and twelve boxes numbered are still admitted to the count through savings provisions.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aec.gov.au/Voting/How_to_Vote/Voting_Senate.htm |title=Voting in the Senate |date=4 January 2019 |publisher=[[Australian Electoral Commission]] |access-date=27 November 2019 |archive-date=27 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227041513/https://aec.gov.au/Voting/How_to_Vote/Voting_Senate.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Because each state elects six senators at each half-Senate election, the quota for election is only one-seventh or 14.3% (one third or 33.3% for territories, where only two senators are elected). Once a candidate has been elected with votes reaching the quota amount, any votes they receive in addition to this may be distributed to other candidates as preferences, if there are still open seats to fill.

With an odd number of seats in a half-Senate election (3 or 5), 50.1% of the vote wins a majority (2/3) or (3/5).

With an even number of seats in a half-Senate election (6), 57.1% of the vote is needed to win a majority of seats (4/6).

The ungrouped candidates in the far right column do not have a box above the line. Therefore, they can only get a primary (number 1) vote from electors who vote below the line.  For this reason, some independents register as a group, either with other independents or by themselves, such as group B in the above example.

Names of parties can be shown only if the parties are registered, which requires, among other things, a minimum of 1,500 members.