Primary school fact sheet - The ACT Electoral Commission

Updated 24 Aug 2021

The ACT Electoral Commission is responsible for:

  • Running elections for the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory
  • Changing electorate boundaries to make sure they are fair.

The ACT Electoral Commission is also known as Elections ACT for short.

Elections ACT gives information about elections to the:

  • Speaker
  • Parliament
  • Government ministers
  • People living in the ACT
  • Political parties and candidates.

Elections ACT can also be asked to run elections for other groups. These groups can be:

  • Schools
  • Public service
  • Other organisations

If you would like to know more you can look at the rest of this website. Use the links at the top of this page, or contact us.

Information Elections ACT can supply includes:

  • Fact sheets
  • Election statistics
  • ACT self-government bills introduced into Commonwealth parliament. Royal Assent is given on 6 December 1988.
  • Elections were run according to the Australian Capital Territory (Electoral) Act 1988.
  • First ACT Legislative Assembly election was held on 4 March 1989 using the modified d'Hondt electoral system.
  • ACT voted as a single electorate.
  • Members of the Legislative Assembly are elected for fixed 3 year terms.
  • Commonwealth parliament legislated to give control of the ACT electoral system to the people of the ACT.
  • The Australian Capital Territory (Electoral) Amendment Act 1991 sets out conditions for a referendum on an ACT electoral system to choose between a single member electorate system or Hare-Clark proportional representation system.
  • Second ACT Legislative Assembly election was held on 15 February 1992 using the modified d'Hondt system again.
  • Referendum to choose a new electoral system was held at the same time as the election.
  • The Hare-Clark electoral system was chosen. 65.3% of people voted for this system.
  • ACT Electoral Commission established by Electoral Act 1992.
  • Third ACT Legislative Assembly election held on 18 February 1995 using the Hare-Clark electoral system for the first time.
  • ACT divided into 3 multi-member electorates: Brindabella with 5 MLAs, Ginninderra with 5 MLAs and Molonglo with 7 MLAs.
  • Entrenchment referendum on the Hare-Clark system. Entrenchment means that the electoral system can only be changed by another referendum or by a special majority of two-thirds of the Assembly.
  • Fourth ACT Legislative Assembly election was held on 21 February 1998.
  • Elections moved from third Saturday in February to third Saturday in October every 3 years.
  • Fifth ACT Legislative Assembly election was held on 20 October 2001.
  • New electorate boundaries used at this election after a redistribution in 2000.
  • Electronic voting used for the first time for an ACT election.
  • Sixth ACT Legislative Assembly election was held on 16 October 2004.
  • Elections changed from third Saturday in October every 3 years to every 4 years.
  • Members now elected for fixed 4 year terms.
  • Seventh ACT Legislative Assembly election was held on 18 October 2008.
  • New electorate boundaries used at this election after a redistribution in 2007.
  • Eighth ACT Legislative Assembly election was held on 20 October 2012.
  • New electorate boundaries used at this election after a redistribution in 2011.
  • Legislation was enacted by the Legislative Assembly in 2014 to increase the size of the Assembly to 25 members.
  • A redistribution was carried out in 2015 to create 5 new electorates, each electing 5 MLAs.
  • New electorates are Brindabella, Ginninderra, Kurrajong, Murrumbidgee and Yerrabi.
  • New electorate boundaries apply from the ninth ACT Legislative Assembly election held on 15 October 2016.
  • Tenth ACT Legislative Assembly election was held between 28 September and 17 October 2020. This election was held during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • New electorate boundaries used at this election after a redistribution in 2019.