A group voting ticket (GVT) is a shortcut for voters in a preferential voting system, where a voter can indicate support for a list of candidates instead of marking preferences for individual candidates. For multi-member electoral divisions with single transferable voting, a group or party registers a GVT before an election with the electoral commission. When a voter selects a group or party "above the line" on a ballot paper, their vote is distributed according to the registered GVT for that group. In Australia it is known as group ticket vote or ticket voting. As of 2022, group voting tickets are used for elections in only one jurisdiction in the country: the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house of the legislature in the Australian state of Victoria. In South Australia House of Assembly elections, parties can submit preference tickets which are used to save a vote that would otherwise be informal. GVTs have been abolished by New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. They were used in the Australian Senate from the 1984 federal election until the 2013 federal election. Tasmania has never used ticket voting. A form of GVT is used for some elections in Fiji. The introduction of GVTs in Australia led to the proliferation of microparties and the creation of preference deals between them, enabling one or more candidates within the network of parties to receive sufficient preferences to achieve the quota for election, especially in multi-member electoral divisions. Such preference deals were first arranged for the 1999 NSW election, where three members of the Minor Party Alliance were elected. "Above the line" voting Every Australian jurisdiction that has introduced GVTs has ballot papers with two sections separated by a line. Voters may choose to vote either “above the line” or "below the line". By voting “below the line” voters can rank candidates individually by numbering boxes. Voters can choose to vote for a group ticket by placing the number '1' in one of the ticket boxes above the line. The single number '1' selects a GVT from one group or party, and all preferences are then distributed according to the GVT. This leads to pre-election trading between parties on how each group will allocate later preferences to other groups and candidates. About 95% of voters vote above the line. In elections where GVTs have been abolished (for the Australian Senate, the New South Wales Legislative