Statement: NSW election vote count update

More than 4 million votes have been counted for the 2023 NSW State election as record postal votes continue to be returned.

Counting is proceeding as planned and in line with legislative requirements and the published count timeline.  Counting has occurred every day since election day, except for Sunday 26 March. On that day, other critical election operations took place, such as the delivery of ballot papers and other materials to our central count centres in Sydney. Counting will continue to take place every day except this Sunday, Easter Friday and Easter Sunday until all Legislative Assembly votes are counted.*

No count can be concluded until all postal votes have been returned to the Electoral Commissioner. Postal votes are still being returned in high numbers and will continue to come in until 6pm Thursday 6 April.

More than 540,000 postal vote packs were sent out for this election and around 400,000 have been returned so far. More than 400,000 declaration votes were also issued. The number of early, declaration and postal votes is higher than at any previous state election.

The count in some Legislative Assembly seats is still close so counting in these seats is being prioritised. The outcome in these seats may not become clear, however, until the end of the postal vote return period. This is because official count information for postal votes and declaration votes (such as absent votes) can only be updated in the virtual tally room for each seat and the Legislative Council in tranches, due to limits within the NSW Electoral Commission’s computer count systems. 

There are only three separate tranches available for postal votes and five tranches for declaration votes. The remaining two tranches of data for postal votes are expected to be included in the virtual tally room on 1 April and 8 April.

The NSW Electoral Commission also experienced challenges recruiting temporary election workers in some areas, which impacted counting operations in a small number of districts. More than 30,000 temporary workers were required to deliver this election. The overall progress of the count remains on track, however, for all districts to meet the timeline published on the NSW Electoral Commission website.

Counting progress is available live through the Virtual Tally Room. 

Information about how votes are counted in state elections is available on our website.  

Count timeline

• Wednesday, 12 April – Estimated completion of check counts for Legislative Assembly districts
• Thursday, 13 April – Estimated distribution of preferences for each district           
• Friday, 14 April – Estimated declaration of results for each Legislative Assembly district
• Thursday, 20 April – Estimated declaration of results for the Legislative Council.

For more information about counting and results, view our recorded webinar.

For more information about the 2023 NSW State election, go to elections.nsw.gov.au or call 1300 135 736.

Media contact
(02) 9290 5936
nswecmedia@elections.nsw.gov.au

*This statement has been corrected to clarify that no counting will take place on Sunday 2 April. Please see the count schedule for further details.