National Tally Room

Main board.

The National Tally Room^[1][2][3] is the Australian centre for national (federal) election results to be tallied (totaled) for electorates (Divisions) making up the Parliament of Australia, which consists of the Australian House of Representatives and the Australian Senate.

Television sets at the rear of the room, behind a media scrum around Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens.

Main board being changed; operators rotate the numbers board from behind.

Queues for members of the public to enter the National Tally Room, 9pm 21 August 2010.

The tally room normally opens as results begin to flow in after voting ends at 6pm on the day of the election, always a Saturday, in the respective states and territories and polling places begin to count the votes; however, some voting figures can come in as early as 5.20pm^[1]. The room closes after the final results from polling places have been announced to the tally room, often after midnight following the day of the election. (Note: Some polling centres may not have counted all votes, and they will recommence counting on Sunday.)

The tally room is set up in the Budawang Building^[4] at EPIC (Exhibition Park in Canberra) in the northern suburbs of Canberra, the national capital city of Australia. A former venue, in the late 1970s, was the then newly built hall at Hawker College, a senior high school in the Canberra regional suburban area of Belconnen.

The building is fitted out by the Australian Electoral Commission for the national elections, and is also used for live broadcasts by media outlets, normally led by the Australian television networks. Over 700 people work in the tally room on the evening of the election^[1].

Boards representing each electorate (Division) and Senate seat are set up on a "tally wall". A box represents each Division and is headed by the name of the Division and the number of registered electors (see shown in green lettering), then the names of the candidates prefaced by the acronym for their political party, and against their names is the currently recorded count of first preference votes; at the bottom are two lines (A and B) for Two Candidate Preferred totals, estimating the result after a notional distribution of the preference votes. Staff at the rear of the tally wall change the details by attaching numbers sheets to the rotating portion of the Division boxes. Media and the public follow the electoral results from the viewing gallery and the media/television sets on the floor of the tally room. Often, current, former or prospective members of the Parliament are seen on the floor, or at the media booths (see picture above.)

See also

• Australian electoral system
• Chaser Yes We Canberra

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Behind the Scenes - Election Night, Australian Electoral Commission, accessed 21 August 2010
2. ^ Ready for another Saturday night, Harold Mitchell, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 2010, accessed 21 August 2010
3. ^ Tally room a raucous shrine to democracy, Jessica Wright, Canberra Times, 25 November 2007, accessed 21 August 2010
4. ^ The National Tally Room is headed back to EPIC!, Exhibition Park in Canberra, accessed 21 August 2010