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History of Elections in South Australia.

The following information is taken from the South Australian electoral commission website.

1850 Establishment of a partly elected Legislative Council (LC) with a limited, property-based franchise.

1851 1st LC election held for representatives for 16 single-member electoral districts. Voluntary enrolment. Vote recorded by writing the preferred candidate's name openly in a book.

1855 2nd LC election held.

1856 Formal acceptance of a bicameral parliament. Distribution of the Province into a single Legislative Council district with 18 members and 17 House of Assembly (HA) districts with 36 members. A restricted property franchise for the Legislative Council was retained.

1857 1st bicameral parliament elected. Male HA suffrage (including indigenous males), aged 21and over. Secret ballot and first-past-the-post voting. Electors crossed out the names of candidates they did not want elected.

1858 Electors had to mark a X in the square opposite the preferred candidate(s). Polling 9am – 5pm .

1860 2nd parliament elected.

1861 1st electoral district boundary redistribution - HA districts increased from 17 to 18, each represented by two members.

1862 3rd parliament elected.

1863 Northern Territory administration taken over by South Australia .

1865 4th parliament elected.

1868 5th parliament elected.

1870 6th parliament elected.

1871 7th parliament elected.

1872 2nd electoral district boundary redistribution - HA districts increased from 18 to 22, membership from 36 to 46.

1875 8th parliament elected.

1878 9th parliament elected.

1879 Blind voters could authorise an agent to mark a ballot-paper on their behalf. Polling 8am to 5pm .

1881 10th parliament elected.

Council membership increased from 18 to 24; South Australia divided into four upper house districts; half LC election principle introduced.

1882 3rd electoral district boundary redistribution – HA districts increased from 22 to 26, each returning 2 members. Northern Territory became part of Flinders district.

1883 Polling 9am to 6pm .

1884 11th parliament elected.

1887 12th parliament elected.

1888 4th electoral district boundary redistribution - HA districts increased to 27. Northern Territory included in LC Northern District.

1889 Polling 8am to 7pm .

1890 13th parliament elected.

Introduction of absent voting.

1893 Establishment of restrictions for enrolling and voting other than in the district of residence.

14th parliament elected.

1894 Enfranchisement of women to vote and stand for both houses of parliament.

1895 Participation of South Australia in the framing, acceptance, and enactment of a Federal Constitution for Australia .

1896 Codification of all electoral laws pertaining to parliamentary elections.

15th parliament elected.

1st referendum, 3 proposals re education.

1898 2nd referendum – re federating the Australian colonies.

1899 16th parliament elected.

3rd referendum - a) a federation of Australian States

- b) extending the LC franchise

1901 5th electoral district boundary redistribution – reduction of HA members from 54 to 42 and number of electoral districts from 27 to 13. Membership in the LC decreased from 24 to 18.

1902 17th parliament elected.

1905 18th parliament elected.

1906 19th parliament elected.

1907 State Electoral Department set up on the recommendation of the Attorney-General to conduct South Australian parliamentary elections.

1908 Rolls to be used for both Commonwealth and State elections. Voters were able to obtain assistance to vote if needed. Employees given leave of absence to vote.

1910 20th Parliament elected.

6th electoral district boundary redistribution. 12 districts and 40 members with transfer of Northern Territory to the Commonwealth effective 5 January 1911 .

1911 4th referendum re increasing rates of pay for members of State Parliament.

1912 21st parliament elected.

1913 7th electoral district boundary redistribution - State divided into 19 HA districts; membership increased from 40 to 46. LC districts increased from 4 to 5, each electing 4 members. LC franchise extended to the head of each household.

1915 22nd parliament elected.

5th referendum on bar-room closing times.

1918 Selina Siggins and Jeanne Young the first women in South Australia to stand for election (as Independents) to the SA Parliament (HA).

23rd parliament elected.

Introduction of voting rights for members of the armed forces for the LC.

1920 Establishment of a joint Commonwealth/State electoral roll followed, shortly after, by forty years of electoral administration for the State under Commonwealth aegis.

1921 24th parliament elected.

1924 Agnes Goode the first woman to be endorsed by a political party (Liberal Union).

25th parliament elected.

1925 Extension of postal voting for reason of illness to male voters.

1927 26th parliament elected.

1929 Introduction of preferential voting in both houses; postal voting introduced; candidates required to lodge a nomination fee.

Appointment of 3 Commissioners to make future redistributions under the 1917 Royal Commission Act.

1930 27th parliament elected.

1933 28th parliament elected.

Extension of the 3 year term of the existing parliament (HA) to a five year term.

1936 8th electoral district boundary redistribution - State divided into 39 single member HA districts.

1937 Introduction of ‘absent' voting on polling day in any polling place within the State.

1938 Marie Skitch the first female candidate endorsed by the Labor Party.

29th parliament elected.

1939 The 3 year parliamentary term reinstated.

1940 Extension of the war service enfranchisement.

1941 30th parliament elected. Polling 8am to 8pm .

1942 Introduction of compulsory voting, once enrolled, for HA elections; enrolment remained voluntary.

1943 Further extension of the War Service Franchise.

1944 31st parliament elected.

1946 Electors omitted from the electoral roll in error granted the right to cast a ‘declaration' vote.

1947 32nd parliament elected.

1950 33rd parliament elected.

1953 34th parliament elected.

1954 9th electoral boundary redistribution; it was undertaken by a 3 member Electoral Commission with the powers of a Royal Commission. 39 single member districts as before.

1955 Appointment of Assistant Returning Officers outside the State.

1956 35th parliament elected.

1959 36th parliament elected. Jessie Cooper (LC) and Joyce Steele (HA) the first women elected to the SA Parliament.

Extension of postal voting to members of closed religious orders.

1962 37th parliament elected.

1965 38th parliament elected.

6th referendum on state lotteries.

1967 First to introduce a computer maintained electoral roll for Commonwealth, State, and local government.

1968 39th parliament elected.

1969 10th electoral boundary redistribution - introduction of 47 seats for the HA, 28 metropolitan and 19 rural electorates.

Extension of the LC franchise

1970 40th parliament elected.

7th referendum on late night shopping.

1972 Minimum age for enrolment and voting reduced to 18 years.

1973 41st parliament elected.

Restrictions on the LC franchise finally removed – all electors enrolled for the HA able to vote in Legislative Council elections. State became a single LC electorate comprising 22 members, 11 of whom retired every 3 years. The LC vote counting method changed to proportional representation. Casual vacancies in the upper house filled by nomination from a joint sitting of both houses. Position of Electoral Commissioner created. Introduction of how-to-vote cards in voting compartments.

1975 Establishment of a permanent and independent Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission (EDBC) to redistribute electoral boundaries. Dominant principle to be adherence to a quota for electors within each district which could vary up to ±10 %.

42nd parliament elected.

Implementation of monthly computer listings of new constituents for MPs.

1976 11th redistribution of electoral boundaries - the first under an independent Boundaries Commission. 47 electorates under one vote/one value principle and 10% quota tolerance. Removal of constraints on prisoners voting. Establishment of a register of postal voters. HA electors used as base for local government electoral roll.

1977 43rd parliament elected. Electoral visitation to hospitals and other care institutions introduced.

1979 Aboriginal education investigated; multi-language posters produced.

44th parliament elected.

1981 Polling hours 8am to 6pm .

1982 Electors with disabilities able to vote by post, use desk top screens in polling booths, attend polling places advertised as having disabled access. Interstate State electoral offices and intra-state Commonwealth divisional returning offices appointed as pre-poll issuing points. First to use microfiche readers in polling booths for declaration vote issuing.

8th referendum on daylight saving.

45th parliament elected.

1983 12th redistribution of electoral boundaries - second by the EDBC.

1984 First Australian jurisdiction to investigate roll scanning, develop a prototype (EROS) and trial an optical scanner to count a preferential ballot.

1985 Introduction of maximum 4 year terms for the Assembly, compulsory voting for LC elections and a two part ballot-paper for the LC. Ticket voting introduced for LC and HA. Introduction of political party registration, candidate affiliations printed on ballot papers, candidate order on ballot papers determined by lot, provisional enrolment for 17 year olds, suppressed address elector category, mobile polling to remote areas, Electoral Commissioner given mandate for community education and electoral research, as well as election conduct. Misleading advertising provisions introduced. First to use counterfoils, develop cardboard ballot boxes, and use one ballot paper for all types of declaration (non ordinary) voting. Ordinary voting made available throughout a district, no longer limited to subdivisions. First to print electoral information in the telephone directory community pages.

46th parliament elected.

1986 First to use rental bond tribunal to assist in roll management and an on-line/real-time enrolment system.

First SA electoral education video produced.

1988 Reduction of the three month residency requirement to one month. Extension of pre-poll declaration voting eligibility.

1989 First to use ‘streetwise comics' for electoral education. MPs provided with roll information on floppy disc.

Election project management introduced.

47th parliament elected.

1991 Referendum held on proposal for:

a) an immediate redistribution of electoral boundaries and thereafter after each general election

b) fairness criteria introduced as a redistribution component

Electoral Commissioner, on request, could act as RO for local government elections.

13th electoral boundary redistribution. 3rd independent EDBC review.

1992 First interactive program on computer disk developed for schools – ‘Does your vote count?'.

Electoral Commissioner given responsibility for certifying elector representation reviews by local

government authorities.

1993 Confidentiality flap developed for pre-poll declaration envelopes. Two-party preferred count conducted

for each polling booth. State Electoral Department (SED) became State Electoral Office (SEO).

48th parliament elected.

1994 14th redistribution of electoral boundaries - 4th independent EDBC review – draft report introduced.

1996 Scanning and bar-coding of postal votes introduced.

1997 Electors with a suppressed address could be included on the ‘Register of Permanent Declaration Voters'.

49th parliament elected.

Website inaugurated, central computerised processing for all postal applications, declaration vote

certificates, assisting LC Scrutiny and capturing all results.

1998 Joint Electoral Education Centre established with the AEC.

15th redistribution of electoral boundaries - 5th independent EDBC review.

2000 SEO Electoral Commissioner required to conduct all local government elections. First bi-lingual poll conducted.

2002 50th parliament elected. Implementation of set 4 year terms – 3rd Saturday in March every four years commencing March 2006.

16th redistribution of electoral boundaries - 6th independent EDBC review.

2006 51st parliament elected.