NSW election, effectively abolishing GVTs. Other changes to party registration processes also resulted in many fewer parties contesting NSW Legislative Council elections. New South Wales changed "above the line" voting for Legislative Council before the 2003 NSW election to optional preferential voting. Parties are now required to submit a higher minimum number of qualified members. A candidate group for Legislative Council elections now requires at least 15 candidates to be eligible for an "above the line" box. Parties do not register group preference tickets and a single 1 in a group's box only preferences the candidates in the group. Voters wishing to preference multiple parties with an "above the line" vote can use lower preferences ("2", "3", and so on) in those parties' "above the line" boxes. The changes reduced the number of parties contesting elections and increased the difficulty for new small parties to be elected. Group voting tickets for the Senate were abolished in March 2016 in favour of optional preferential voting in time for the 2016 federal election. South Australia changed from group voting tickets to optional preferential voting before the 2018 South Australian election. Instructions for above the line votes are to mark '1' and then further preferences are optional. The effect of an above the line vote is now to vote for all candidates in a single group in order, and not to follow a GVT. Voters who vote below the line are instructed to provide at least 12 preferences as opposed to having to number all candidates, and with a savings provision to admit ballot papers which indicate at least 6 below the line preferences. In November 2021, the Western Australian parliament passed legislation to abolish GVTs and move to optional preferential voting, after several minor parties were elected and came close to being elected despite earning 2% or less of the vote; in particular, the election of the Daylight Saving Party with only 98 votes in an area known for voting strongly against daylight savings was cited as to why this legislation was quickly passed. Criticism Group voting tickets voting has been criticised because electors usually do not know, and it is difficult to find out, where their preferences are being directed. All details are published in advance, both electronically and in a free booklet published by the Australian Electoral Commission or the appropriate State electoral commission. The booklets may be viewed at