Ahead of the Voice to Parliament referendum on 14 October, Australians have been asking whether the referendum can end in a tie.
As the Parliamentary Education Office (PEO) states, the referendum can’t end in a tie because it needs a majority of votes to be successful.
So if by some extremely unlikely fate the referendum did get an equal amount of Yes and No votes, it would mean it wouldn’t pass because it didn’t gain a majority.
Australians will be asked to answer Yes or No on the ballot, to whether an Indigenous Voice to Parliament should be enshrined in the constitution.
If a No vote is successful, an Indigenous Voice will not be enshrined, and the constitution will remain unchanged.
There are two thresholds for a successful referendum: a majority of votes and a majority of states.
That’s just states, not territories; votes in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory count towards the first threshold but not the second.
Like a regular election, all eligible Australians aged 18 and over are required to enrol and vote in referendums.
If an eligible person fails to provide a valid and sufficient reason why they didn’t vote, they may be fined.
Can the Governor-General vote in the referendum?
In a public Q and A, the PEO had been asked whether the governor-general, as a representative of the King, would submit a tie-breaking vote to decide the referendum result.
However the Governor-General, David Hurley, is very likely to follow convention and withhold his vote.
As an Australian citizen over the age of 18, he is required by law to be enrolled on the electoral roll and vote.
But in Australian tradition, the governor-general does not vote, and will write to the Electoral Commissioner to confirm that they won’t vote and this is accepted.
(SBS)
