One vote one value

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Australia, one vote one value is a legislative principle of democracy whereby each electorate has the same population within a specified percentage of tolerance. In the case of the Commonwealth, the maximum tolerance for the House of Representatives is 10% [1]. The electoral legislation of The Commonwealth for the House of Representatives and all states follows the principle of one vote one value with some exceptions.

In Western Australia, the one vote one value principle is now followed, with the exception that electoral divisions covering an area greater than 100,000km² are allowed a maximum tolerance of 20%.

[edit] Exceptions

The Australian constitution mandates a minimum of five seats in the House of Representatives per federal state. As such, the state of Tasmania has five members of the House of Representatives while deviating in population some 15-20% from mainland Australian electorates.

Likewise, the Australian constitution mandates twelve senators per state in the Australian Senate. Senators from large states such as New South Wales and Victoria represent many more electors than senators from smaller states such as South Australia or Tasmania.