New South Wales is headed to the polls on Saturday, after a “monumental stuff-up” that saw 140 Liberal candidates in 16 councils miss out on their shot at the local government election.
The administrative failure sparked factional infighting and an attempted takeover of the party’s troubled NSW branch while giving some unlikely contenders a chance of getting in.
So do you need to vote? And can you vote anywhere?
Here’s everything you need to know about voting in the 2024 NSW local council elections.
Do I have to vote?
All Australian citizens over the age of 18 are required to enrol and vote in local government elections, the same as with federal and state elections.
If you don’t vote and you don’t have a valid reason, you could be fined $55.
You can be fined for not voting even if you didn’t know there was an election, but if you’re ill in hospital or out of NSW on polling day you may not be fined.
When do I vote?
Polls for local council elections will open at 8am on Saturday and close at 6pm sharp.
You can also vote early at dedicated prepoll centres, which open at 8.30am and will close at 8pm on Thursday and 5.30pm on Friday. It is no longer possible to sign up for a postal vote.
Where do I vote?
You can only vote at a polling booth inside your local council area or your local ward, which is determined by the address the AEC has on file for you.
Your voting address will be the one the electoral commission has on file for you. If you’ve recently moved to a new address or you haven’t updated your enrolment details for a while, you can check which address the commission has you enrolled for.
You can find polling booths around your registered address with the search tool on the homepage of the NSW electoral commission. Voters without internet access can call the commission on 1300 135 736.
You cannot vote in a different local government area from the one you are enrolled to vote in, so you should vote early if you will be outside your area on Saturday.
How do I vote?
If you are voting above the line, you only need to number one box – the candidate (or, in some cases, the group of candidates) you’d like to win.
If you’re voting below the line, you need to number each box, with 1 for most preferred and 2 and onwards for less preferred.
Requirements vary between councils, so check the instructions on your ballot paper.
Information on voting is available in 24 community languages and will be accessible at polling places through QR codes. Voters can also ask polling place workers to connect them to interpreters from the Translating and Interpreting Service when they arrive to vote.
Who do I vote for?
Each voter will elect councillors for their local government area, or for their ward if their council is divided into wards. Councillors serve four-year terms.
About one in four councils get voters to elect their mayor too. In most councils, however, the elected councillors choose who will become mayor.
Residents in eight councils, including Woollahra, Central Coast, Kiama and Port Macquarie-Hastings, will also vote on referendums to change the structure of the council, while two councils will ask residents to vote in polls.
What do councillors do and how much are they paid?
Councils are responsible for community services including roads, garbage and development planning.
In small rural councils representing fewer than 10,000 people, councillors receive between $10,220 and $13,520 a year while mayors get an additional fee of up to $29,500.
The highest-paid council is the City of Sydney, where councillors earn between $30,720 and $45,070 while the lord mayor, Clover Moore, gets a bonus of up to $247,390.
Who is running for council?
Moore is seeking a record sixth term in what she describes as the “most desperate” campaign she has experienced in decades of public life.
And third-party groups are out in force campaigning about the Israel-Gaza war after councils around the state have debated whether to endorse boycott measures, call for a ceasefire, or even get involved at all.
But outside the big news stories, it’s difficult to learn about the people running for council.
Voters can use the electoral commission search tool to see which candidates will be on their ballot or turn to candidate campaign websites and flyers or social media groups to learn what some community members think of the nominees.
Local newspapers once helped inform voters but many small papers have closed down, leaving suburban and rural NSW without dedicated coverage of their council.
When will the council election results be announced?
Results will start to roll in from 7pm on Saturday, as electoral commission workers complete initial counts of the votes at their centres.
However, the final results will not be declared until early October because people with postal votes have until 27 September to get their vote to the electoral commission.
There are more than 5 million voters enrolled in NSW. About one in five are expected to vote early and an additional one in 12 voters took a postal vote.
Some residents in parts of rural NSW and one ward in Penrith will not need to vote as there were enough positions available for all candidates to be elected without a contest. One council, Central Darling Shire, will not have elections as it is in administration.
When will I have to vote next?
Residents of the state government electorates of Epping, Hornsby and Pittwater will go back to the polls on 19 October to replace outgoing MPs Dominic Perrottet, Matt Kean and Rory Amon.
Four rural councils did not have enough nominations to fill all available positions this Saturday, so residents will vote in the remaining councillors on 23 November. Councillors will serve until the next local government election, scheduled for September 2028.
Australian citizens across NSW will have to vote again at the next federal election, due by May 2025.
