Electoral Commission of South Australia a world leader in poll admin techniques and with its unique rules for voting

Among the state's different rules, the South Australian requirement for voters to number all ballot paper squares resulted in a low informal vote at elections conducted by its electoral commission.

The Electoral Commission of South Australia was the world’s first electoral administration to use computers to produce an electoral roll and the first to develop electoral roll scanners and the use of cardboard ballot boxes and voting compartments.

The commission’s internationally innovative drive was part of a tradition set by William Boothby, who refined the use of secret ballots in elections in the 1850s. Boothby was last of South Australia’s sheriffs (who also ran the jails and courts system) to conduct elections.

In 1907, the state electoral department took over running all South Australian parliamentary elections from Boothby, who was remembered in the name of the Adelaide suburban federal electoral seat. Previously renamed the state electoral office (1993), the Electoral Commission South Australia (from 2009) became an independent body answerable to state parliament. The government special minister of state had responsibility for the commission. 

Besides their innovations, South Australian elections had several features that differ from polls for the federal government in other states. These relate to instructions on the ballot paper, the way independents appear on the ballot paper, and the use of preference tickets to assist voters and to help save votes that would otherwise be informal.

Despite attempts by a previous Liberal government to reintroduce voluntary voting, compulsory enrolment and voting still applied in South Australian elections. Initial enrolment on the state roll was voluntary but, as it was compulsory to enrol for federal elections, most people had to enrol for both. Once a voter was on the state roll, enrolment became compulsory.

While voting was compulsory, South Australian ballot papers uniquely included an instruction that informed the voter that she/he did not have to mark the ballot paper. This resulted in South Australian elections having Australia’s highest proportion of blank ballot papers. At the 2002 state election, 42.3% of all informal ballot papers were left blank, compared to only 21.4% at the 2001 federal election.

Like other states and the Commonwealth, South Australian candidates could have their registered party name (of up to six words) on the ballot paper. Uniquely in South Australia, independents coukd thus add five words. At the 2002 state election, this produced names such as “Independent Youth Empowerment Save Live Music” and “Independent Nuclear Free Green Granny”.

Like all Australian lower house elections, elections for the South Australia House of Assembly used preferential voting. New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT allowed optional preferential voting but South Australians had to number all ballot paper squares for their vote to be counted.

This could mean more spoiled or informal ballot papers. But South Australia’s unique ticket voting in the House of Assembly resulted in it having the lowest informal vote of any place using compulsory preferential voting. All candidates contesting the House of Assembly could lodge either one or two ticket votes to be displayed in each polling place. This allowed for a checking system that saved many votes from being declared informal.

The Electoral Commission of South Australia's main functions were to conduct:

• state and local government council elections every four years, including House of Assembly byelections and council supplementary elections,
• to provide community awareness programs on the electoral system, and,
• to conduct elections for statutory authorities such as the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara executive board, Super SA, Super SA Select, Funds SA, the Architectural Practice Board of South Australia, and the South Eastern Water Conservation and Drainage Board.

The Electoral Commission of South Australia also conducted fee-for-service elections and ballots for other organisations that required the appointment of an independent returning officer.