Prospects for the 2003 Legislative Council election

At the 1999 New South Wales election, voters were presented with an unusual physical challenge in trying to cast their votes for the Legislative Council. A record 264 candidates nominated for 81 groups on a ballot paper measuring one metre by 700mm. As expected, the problems encountered in 1999 have produced a legislative response. Changes for the 2003 election include tightened rules for the registration of political parties, and changes to the operation of group ticket voting to prevent parties from automatically feeding preferences to other partiesand to allow voters to express preferences for parties. This paper sets out to explain the complex procedures used to elect the Legislative Council, and also to speculate on how the new rules of the game will work at the 2003 election