Casual vacancies in the fourth Legislative Assembly (1998-2001)

There was one casual vacancy between the 1998 and 2001 Legislative Assembly elections.

Mrs Kate Carnell resigned from the Legislative Assembly on 13 December 2000. On 18 January 2001, Ms Jacqui Burke, Liberal Party, was declared elected to fill the casual vacancy following a recount of ballot papers received by Mrs Carnell at the 1998 election.

Mrs Kate Carnell

Former Chief Minister, Mrs Kate Carnell, resigned from the Legislative Assembly on 13 December 2000. A notice was published in the Canberra Times on 2 January 2001 calling for nominations from eligible candidates. At the close of applications on 12 January 2001, a total of 10 nominations had been received. In a recount of ballot papers received by Mrs Carnell at the 1998 election, Ms Jacqui Burke, Liberal Party, received more than half the votes, and, on 18 January 2001, was declared elected to fill the casual vacancy.

The Electoral Act requires ballot papers in a count-back to be multiplied by a transfer value to arrive at the quota required by candidates to be elected at the original election. The transfer value in this case is calculated as follows:

• Original quota for Molonglo in 1998 = 9459
• Ballot papers counted to Mrs Carnell = 25379
• Ballot papers with next available preference in Mrs Carnell's surplus = 25216
• Ballot papers exhausted after distribution of Mrs Carnell's surplus = 163 (Casual vacancy transfer value = 1)
• Casual vacancy transfer value of Mrs Carnell's surplus = (9459 -163) / (25379 - 163) = 9296 / 25216

The quota required to be elected in the count-back is calculated by dividing the total votes allocated to continuing candidates by two and adding one to the result. ((8786 / 2) + 1 = 4394)

Final results