Explaining the District Results Pages
| District Heading |
| The first line of every district result contains the name of
the district along with the year for a general election result, or the word
'by-election'. In multi-member districts, the number of members to be elected
is indicated Electoral enrolment, or "n.a." is displayed meaning the
roll figure is not available.
|
| Party Status Line |
For most elections, this line indicates the party status of
the election result. In most cases the contest will be based on the party
defined as holding the seat as against the candidate winning the seat. Most
seats are indicated as being either 'gained' or 'retained' by a party. Where
redistributions make defining a holding party difficult, the seat will be
simply defined as 'won'. See the result notes below the table for any specific information that may affect the party classification of a seat. |
| Categories Line |
| Indicated here is whether preferences or a second ballot were
required to determine the winner, whether preferences or a second ballot
changed the result of the primary vote race, whether preferences were counted
to completion, and whether the winning candidate achieved an absolute as
opposed to a simple majority. |
| Election Dates |
| General elections have been conducted on a single day since
1894, with a single nomination day used since 1901. For single date elections,
check the Home page for each election for nomination and polling dates. For
all by-elections, and for all elections prior to 1901 where different
nomination or polling days were in use, the nomination and polling date are
shown on this line. For the period of second ballots between 1910 and 1920,
the second ballot date is shown. Note that candidates are declared elected on
nomination day in the case of uncontested districts, or on polling (or second
ballot) day in contested districts. |
| Candidate and vote details |
| This information is relatively straight forward. Details of
the candidate as it is believed they appeared on the ballot paper is given.
Party affiliation is shown, the votes and percentage votes received. Party
affiliation is not shown for elections before 1887. Where second ballot or
preferential voting was used, the result of the second ballot or preference
count is shown. Note that before 1988, preferences were only distributed where
required, and only distributed to the point where a candidate achieved a
majority. For the proportional representation elections from 1920 to 1925, a
primary vote quota is shown, along with the final tally for each candidate at
the completion of the prefernce distribution. |
| Percentages under Optional Preferential Voting |
| Primary vote percentages are calculated as a percentage of
the formal vote. For elections under compulsory preferential voting,
two-candidate preferred percentages are calculated the same way. Under
optional preferential voting, percentages are always calculated as a
percentage of votes remaining in the count, that is the formal vote minus the
exhausted preferences to that point. |
| Candidate Order |
| For elections 1856 to 1887, candidates are displayed in
descending order of vote, as are single member districts for 1887, 1889 and
1891. For Multi-member districts 1887 to 1891, and 1920 to 1925, candidates
are grouped by party, with candidates in descending order of vote within each
party. For all single member elections since 1894, candidates are displayed in
ballot paper order, or what is believed to be ballot paper order. |
| Formal, Informal, Turnout |
| Formal votes corresponds to the total of the number of votes
for each candidate. Informal votes are always shown. In the nineteenth
century, this may be zero, but this may simply indicate a value that was not
reported. 'Estimated Turnout' is a value used for 19th century multi-member
districts when electors had as many votes to cast as there were vacancies.
Estimated turnout is calculated by dividing the total votes by the number of
vacancies and the total enrolment. For many 19th century elections, a value
for 'Persons Voting / Turnout' appears, based on records of the number of
ballots issues. In multi-member districts, this is the correct measure of
turnout. Discrepancies between Persons Voting and Total votes in single member
districts often corresponds to incomplete results. See notes on the election
below the result for details. |
| By-election Causes |
| A broad classification of the cause of a by-election is
shown. More detail is usually provided in the notes. |
| Notes |
| This material lists any relevant background to the contest. It
may relate to why a sitting member retired or changed party, why a by-election
was held, or any other matter that assists in explaining a result. |
| Sources |
| All elections before 1894, and all by-elections before 1932
have been researched from newspaper sources. Statistical Returns for general
elections were not published until 1894. There were also no statistical
returns for the 1898 election, or for any by-elections until 1930. The Sources
field details the source for the results, and in some cases for the candidate
names. This field has also been used to index reports of nominations published
in the Sydney Morning Herald between 1856 and 1891. |
| Corrections |
| This field is used to explain where results differ from other
election result sources. |
| Distribution of preferences |
| This table shows the distribution of preferences in a
district. For each candidate excluded, there are a series of columns that show
the number of votes and percentage of preferences flowing to each candidate
remaining in the count. After this, a new total for each candidate is
displayed. In elections using optional preferential voting, the percentages
are calculated from the number of ballots with continuing preferences, with a separate
total of exhausted preferences shown. |