The upper house — proportional representation
The Legislative Council (upper house) uses a very different system. Instead of one winner per area, each of 8 regions elects 5 members, and seats are shared out roughly in proportion to how people voted.
The ballot paper
The upper house ballot is a big white sheet, divided by a thick horizontal line:
- Above the line — one box per party or group, each with the party name. Simpler.
- Below the line — every individual candidate listed, one box each. More control.
You choose one method — either above or below. Numbering boxes on both sides can make your vote informal.
How to fill it in (new rules for 2026)
Option A — above the line
Number at least 5 boxes in order of preference: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. You can number more if you want.
Each "1" above the line is treated as a vote for each candidate within that party, in the order the party listed them, followed by preferences flowing to your "2" party, then "3", and so on.
Option B — below the line
Number at least 5 individual candidates: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. You can number more if you want.
You decide the exact order — not the party. Below-the-line voters have maximum control, but it takes longer to fill in.
How are winners decided?
The upper house uses the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, the same method used for the federal Senate.
Step 1 — the quota
A candidate needs a quota of votes to be elected. In a 5-member region, the quota is:
quota = (total formal votes ÷ 6) + 1
So in a region with 600,000 formal votes, the quota is about 100,001. Any candidate reaching that threshold is elected.
Step 2 — surplus distribution
If a candidate gets more votes than needed, the excess is distributed to voters' next preferences. For example, if Candidate A gets 150,000 (50,000 over the quota of 100,000), 50,000 "worth" of votes flow onward based on the "2" preferences of A's voters.
Step 3 — eliminations
If no one new reaches a quota from surplus flows, the lowest-polling candidate is eliminated and their votes are redistributed by preference. Repeat until 5 members have been elected.
Worked intuition — why PR produces diverse upper houses
Say a region has roughly these first preferences: Labor 35%, Coalition 30%, Greens 15%, One Nation 8%, Legalise Cannabis 5%, others 7%. In the lower house (one seat per district), Labor would win most seats. In the upper house (5 seats per region), the likely outcome is:
- Labor 2 seats (35% ≈ 2 quotas of 16.7%)
- Coalition 2 seats (30% ≈ ~1.8 quotas, 2nd seat on preferences)
- Greens 1 seat (15% ≈ 1 quota with preferences)
That's why minor parties and independents often win upper house seats they'd never win in the lower house.
Why abolishing GVTs matters
Under the old Group Voting Ticket system (used in Victoria from 1988 until this election), a single "1" above the line gave the party full control of where your preferences went. Parties would do preference deals swapping flows, which occasionally resulted in a candidate elected on tiny first-preference numbers (sometimes under 1%).
From 2026, voters themselves must number at least 5 preferences — so preference flows reflect what voters actually want.
What makes a vote informal?
- Numbering fewer than 5 boxes (above or below the line)
- Numbering boxes both above and below
- Repeating the same number, or skipping a number early in your sequence
- Leaving the paper blank