by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

for the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

was held in the

Division of Denison The Division of Denison was an Australian electoral division in Tasmania, before being replaced by the Division of Clark as part of a 2016–17 redistribution. History The division was one of the five established when the former Division of ...

in the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n state of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

on Saturday 16 February 1980.

Background

The election was the first to use the

Robson Rotation Robson Rotation is a method of arranging the names of candidates on ballot papers in single transferable vote elections so as to eliminate any influence of the so-called "donkey vote". Traditionally, every ballot paper in an election is identica ...

, a method of rotating names on ballot papers. In previous elections, candidates were listed in alphabetical order by surname. By-elections are not usually held in the Tasmanian House of Assembly because casual vacancies are filled by a recount of votes, a system that has been in place since 1917.House of Assembly Elections
Tasmanian Parliamentary Library On 18 December 1979 the

Supreme Court of Tasmania The Supreme Court of Tasmania is the highest State court in the Australian State of Tasmania. In the Australian court hierarchy, the Supreme Court of Tasmania is in the middle level, with both an appellate jurisdiction over lower courts, and de ...

ordered that the election of three candidates in the 1979 election be declared void.Report on Parliamentary Elections 1978 to 1980
,

Parliament of Tasmania The Parliament of Tasmania is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Tasmania. It follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system and consists of the Governor of Tasmania, the Tasmanian House of Assembly (the lower house), and T ...

, 1980. The court found that

Julian Amos Julian John Amos (born 1 October 1945, Melbourne) was a Labor Party politician in the Australian state of Tasmania during 1976-1986 and 1992-1996. He was a Government Minister with portfolios of Primary Industry, Energy and Forests during 1979- ...

, John Devine and

John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author, YouTube Content creation, content creator, podcaster, and philanthropist. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'' ( ...

had exceeded their spending limits.A Tasmanian Political Almanac
Parliament of Tasmania As a result, all elected members for the electorate of Denison were required to face another election.

Elected Members

The election resulted in two previously elected members losing their seats:

from the Labor Party and Bob Baker from the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. Elected in their place were

Norm Sanders Norman Karl Sanders (born 15 October 1932) is an Australian former politician, representing the Australian Democrats in the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1980 to 1982 and the Australian Senate from 1985 to 1990. Early life Born in Clevelan ...

from the Democrats and Liberal

Gabriel Haros Gabriel George Haros (born 9 February 1944) is a former Australian politician and the founder of the PundaZoie Company a globally acknowledged company delivering thGreening the DesertProgram – commercial solutions for sustainable agriculture, c ...

. The following candidates were elected, listed in order of election:

Background

Elected Members

Result

References

Further reading