Australians go to the polls to vote in the federal election on July 2.
Voting is compulsory for all eligible citizens over 18.
Voters must be enrolled with the Australian Electoral Commission.
Once registered, they must vote on election day to avoid penalties.
Federal elections are held every three years to determine members of the House of Representatives, who serve a three-year term, and members of the Senate who serve a six-year term.
Traditionally, half the Senate is elected every three years.
However, this double-dissolution election means all seats are being contested. Thats 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 76 in the Senate.
Voters at 8000 polling stations across Australia will be given two ballot papers.
The green ballot paper is to elect a local candidate for the House of Representatives.
While, the white ballot paper is for electing a senator from their own state or territory.
Candidates are elected by a preferential voting system.
Australias system of preferential voting essentially aims to make your vote go further. So if youre numbering like on the House of Representatives ballot paper, you need to number all the boxes. If the person you vote for as number one is struck out of the count, then your vote will flow onto your next preference and so on, until it is counted towards a candidate.
Voting on the white Senate ballot paper is slightly different.
Voters can either mark their preferences by party above the line, or number their preferred candidates below the line.
Voters have to number at least 1 to 6 above the line if youre voting for parties or groups or 1 to 12 below the line if you want to vote directly for candidates.
