Elections
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Elections for the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Executive Board are held every 3 years.
The Executive Board is the governing body of the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. Every 3 years the APY Executive Board elections are held to elect members to the Board. The Board consists of 14 members. There are 7 electorates within the APY Lands and a male and a female will be elected to represent each electorate (community/homeland group).
The Board handles things like roads, buildings, mining, and other important matters for the community.
More information
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ECSA conducted polls on behalf of the District Council of Coober Pedy regarding the continuation of the period of administration, the sale of Council's electricity and water assets, and the setting of municipal rate levels.
Voting closed at 12 noon, Monday 21 October 2019. The following are final declared results for these polls.
| Participation Summary | |
| Enrolment: | 985 |
| Envelopes returned: | 350 (35.53% of the total enrolment) |
| Envelopes rejected: | 7 |
| Envelopes accepted: | 343 |
| Results | |
| Question 1: Do you support the Council conducting a poll of electors on every occasion when it proposes to increase municipal rates by more than CPI? | |
| Number in favour: | 255 (74.78%) |
| Number opposed: | 86 (25.22%) |
| Informal: | 0 (0%) |
| Total ballot papers: | 341 |
| Ballot paper not returned in envelope: | 2 (0.59%) |
| Question 2: Do you support the Council selling its electricity assets and business to the State Government should it be financially sensible to do so? | |
| Number in favour: | 175 (51.17%) |
| Number opposed: | 167 (48.83%) |
| Informal: | 0 (0%) |
| Total ballot papers: | 342 |
| Ballot paper not returned in envelope: | 1 (0.29%) |
| Question 3: Do you support the Council selling its water assets and business to the State Government should it be financially sensible to do so? | |
| Number in favour: | 183 (53.35%) |
| Number opposed: | 160 (46.65%) |
| Informal: | 0 (0%) |
| Total ballot papers: | 343 |
| Ballot paper not returned in envelope: | 0 (0%) |
| Question 4: Do you support the term of administration of the Council being continued until the next scheduled general election for the Council in November 2022? | |
| Number in favour: | 240 (70.38%) |
| Number opposed: | 100 (29.33%) |
| Informal: | 1 (0.29%) |
| Total ballot papers: | 341 |
| Ballot paper not returned in envelope: | 2 (0.59%) |
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The Electoral Commission of South Australia conducts elections for the following statutory authorities:
ECSA welcomes requests to run elections for community and commercial organisations. For more information visit Ask ECSA to run your election.
Polls
ECSA conducts polls for councils when a community decision must be made.
Coorong District Council - Poll - 26 October 2021District Council of Coober Pedy - Polls - 21 October 2019
Referenda
A referendum allows eligible electors to express an opinion on adopting or changing public policy issues or their constitution. In Australia, referenda are initiated by the Commonwealth, State or Territory parliaments.
Like general elections, voting in referenda is compulsory for all enrolled electors.
Australia's first ever referendum was held in South Australia in 1896 and dealt with matters relating to secular and religious education. Following the success of the South Australian referendum the process was then adopted countrywide at both State and Federal level.
The process for enacting a State referendum is as follows:
- A Bill containing the proposed changes is laid before and discussed by, both houses of Parliament.
- After the Bill passes through Parliament, the electorate votes on the issue at a referendum.
- If a majority of voters at the referendum approve of the Bill, it may be sent to the Governor for official consent and may become law.
State referenda have included issues debated by Parliament such as daylight saving, trading hours for shops, and the closing time for pubs. The table below shows some of the referenda held in South Australia, including their results.
| Date | Proposal | Votes in favour | Votes not in favour |
Passed |
|
29/04/1899 |
'Are you in favour of the Amended Commonwealth Bill?' 'Are you in favour of extending the franchise for the Legislative Council to all householders as provided by the Bill passed by the House of Assembly in 1898?' |
65,990 49,208 |
17,053 33,928 |
YES YES |
|
26/04/1911 |
'Are you in favour of increasing the payment of Members of Parliament to Three Hundred pounds per annum?' |
42,934 |
89,042 |
NO |
|
20/11/1965 |
‘Are you in favour of the promotion and conduct of Lotteries by the Government of the State?’ | 344,886 | 142,196 | YES |
|
19/09/1970 |
‘Are you in favour of shops in the Metropolitan Planning Area and the Municipality of Gawler being permitted to remain open for trading until 9 pm on Fridays?’ | 177,296 | 190,826 | NO |
|
06/11/1982 |
‘Are you in favour of Daylight Saving?’ | 568,635 | 225,310 | YES |
| 09/02/1991 | ‘Do you approve the Constitution (Electoral Redistribution) Amendment Bill, 1990?’ | 649,906 | 197,244 | YES |
More information can be found in the publication South Australian referenda (PDF 818 KB)
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Preliminary scrutiny
Ballot paper envelopes received throughout the course of the election are checked daily by electoral officers to determine whether they can be accepted for further scrutiny.
An envelope will be rejected (not included in the count) if:
- the declarations are unsigned or signed by an unauthorised person
- the declaration flaps are missing
- ballot papers are returned outside the ballot paper envelope
- it is a duplicate of an envelope already received.
All envelopes are then stored securely until the start of the count.
Scrutiny and count
When
The scrutiny and count of all periodic elections commences at 9am on the Saturday following the close of voting. For supplementary elections, it commences at a reasonable time after the close of voting, as determined by the Returning Officer. Candidates will be advised when the scrutiny and count will commence.
How
The declaration flaps on accepted envelopes are removed and kept to one side. This ensures the anonymity of the ballot. The envelopes are then rearranged and opened. Any ballot papers removed should be for the Council and ballot paper type indicated on the envelope.
If there are more ballot papers removed from an envelope than were mailed out, or different ballot papers than the voter’s entitlement, then they are rejected.
When all ballot papers have been extracted from the envelopes, informal ballot papers are set aside.
Formal ballot papers are sorted, according to first preference votes for each candidate, and counted. Preferences are then distributed, until the required number of candidates are elected.
Ballot paper formality
In Council elections for a ballot paper to be formal, it must have the number 1 against one of the candidate's names, and if there is more than one vacancy, it must have further consecutive numbers against other candidate's names at least up until the number of vacancies to be filled.
For example, if there are 4 vacancies a ballot paper must contain the number 1 against one candidate's name, and at least the numbers 2, 3 and 4 against the names of other candidates. Numbers up to 4 cannot be duplicated or omitted.
A ballot paper is informal if:
- There is no vote marked on it.
- The 1st preference is not indicated.
- A preference is duplicated, or missing, in the sequence of numbers up to the number required.
For more information about ballot paper formality, and to see examples of formal and informal ballots, download the following document: Ballot paper formality (PDF 261 KB).
Scrutineers
One or more scrutineers may observe the conduct of the election and counting of votes. No more than two scrutineers per candidate are permitted in the vote counting place at the same time.
Scrutineers must identify themselves to the electoral officer in charge and submit on the day a completed LG15 Scrutineer Authority Form (228 KB), signed by the candidates.
Scrutineers may observe all proceedings but must not handle ballot papers or other electoral materials. They may query any aspect of the process.
Procedures to conclude the election
| Provisional Declaration |
After the count has been completed, the Deputy Returning Officer will make a provisional declaration of the result, in the presence of any scrutineers. |
| Results |
Electoral Commission SA will publish progressive results on our 2018 Council Elections Results Page from the afternoon of Saturday 10 November. |
| Recounts | An unsuccessful candidate may request the Returning Officer for a recount, provided the request is in writing, specifying the reason, and made within 72 hours after the provisional declaration. The Returning Officer will decide whether the request will be granted. Alternatively, the Returning Officer may initiate a recount. |
| Final Declaration | Where a recount is conducted, the Returning Officer, in accordance with the result of the recount, makes a final declaration. |
| Concluding election procedures |
The Returning Officer concludes the election process by:
|
| Court of Disputed Returns |
The Court of Disputed Returns may consider a petition that disputes the validity of an election. The Court is constituted of a District Court Judge whose powers are set out in Part 13 of the Local Government (Elections) Act 1999. A petition to the clerk of the Court must be lodged within 28 days after the conclusion of the election. A copy of the petition must be served on any person declared elected in the disputed election, and on the Council. If it is alleged that the election is invalid on account of an act or omission of an electoral officer, a copy of the petition must also be served on the Electoral Commissioner. |
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1857 – 2006 elections
State and by-election reports
After each state election and by-election, ECSA produces a report which is tabled in Parliament and made publicly available. The reports cover all aspects of an election, including a summary of the results.