How Australia’s 2023 Voice referendum counted the national and state majorities

The proposal needed two majorities

A constitutional referendum needs a national majority and Yes majorities in at least four of the six states. The 2023 proposal received 39.94% Yes nationally and no state recorded a Yes majority. The writ returned on 6 November formally confirmed the result after fresh scrutiny. Source 1 Source 2

Territory votes count toward the national result

The Australian Capital Territory’s 61.29% Yes vote was the only Yes majority among the eight jurisdictions shown. Both territories contributed to the national totals. The four-state threshold is evaluated using the six states. Source 1 Source 2

Turnout and Yes share track different things

Tasmania had the highest turnout in the published table at 92.04% and a Yes vote share of 41.06%. Victoria had the highest Yes share among the six states at 45.85%. The Northern Territory had 71.46% turnout and a Yes share of 39.70%. Source 1

The turnout count includes informal votes

The AEC listed 6,286,894 formal Yes votes, 9,452,792 formal No votes and 155,545 informal votes. These sum to 15,895,231 ballots cast from an enrolment of 17,671,784. Yes and No percentages are calculated from the formal vote total. Source 1 Source 2

Sources

• Australian Electoral Commission final referendum tally
• Australian Electoral Commission formal return of the writ