David M. Farrell is Jean Monnet Professor of European Politics at the University of Manchester, England. Farrell is the pre-eminent international expert on electoral systems and is the author of two standard works on electoral systems: Electoral Systems: A Comparative Introduction and Comparing Electoral Systems. Ian McAllister is Professor of Politics at the Australian National University. He is the co-editor, most recently, of The Cambridge Handbook of the Social Sciences in Australia and coauthor of The Australian Political System, Longman, 1998, Ian McAllister has written extensively on Australian politics, parties and elections, and has been a co-director of the Australian Election Study since 1987. He is currently chair of the 50-nation Comparative Study of Electoral Systems group.

• Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; 1 Australian electoral system design; Australian electoral systems: origins and variation; Studying the operation of Australia's electoral systems; Locating preferential electoral systems in Australia; Assessing Australia's electoral systems; 2 Australia's national electoral systems, 1902-83; Early debates over electoral system design; The 1902 Commonwealth Electoral Act; The adoption of AV for House of Representatives; Reform of the Senate electoral system, 1918-83; Conclusion: accident and intent in electoral system design; 3 Australia's contemporary electoral systems; Australia's evolving electoral systems; The alternative vote and its variants; The single transferable vote and its variants; Australia's experiments with alternatives to AV and STV; Conclusion; 4 Preferential systems and their consequences; AV as a non-proportional system; STV as a proportional system; Preferential systems and the fate of individual candidates; Conclusion; 5 The voter versus the party; Party service among election candidates; Candidates views of their representative roles; Campaign activity by Australian parliamentary candidates; Conclusion; 6 Compulsory voting, party control and the voter; Compulsory voting in Australia; Preferential voting and the strategic voter; Ticket voting and the 'preferential voter'; Compulsion, complexity and voter engagement; Conclusion; 7 Preferential systems and voter satisfaction; Ballot structures and democracy; Preferential Systems and voter satisfaction with democracy; Electoral systems and political attitudes; Conclusion; 8 Preferential voting and electoral system design; The politics of electoral system design; Variations in electoral system families; Electoral and behavioural consequences; From innovation to stagnation: electoral system design; Where to now?; Appendix; Notes; Bibliography; Index.