2023 NSW State election: Political participants bulletin No.12

Issued 23 March 2023

1. Election day

Voting centre locations and hours

Voting centres will be open on election day Saturday, 25 March 2023 from 8am to 6pm.

A full list of locations and projections for early voting centres, declared facilities and voting centres can be found at venue projections.

Reporting allegations about electoral material

Concerns electoral material used or published during the regulated election period is unlawful can be reported in writing by email to candidates@elections.nsw.gov.au. This email will be monitored on election day. Reports should not be made by telephone to the Candidate helpdesk or any other number on election day. 

A report should include a clear image of the electoral material. For electoral material published on the internet, including social media, a URL link or the name of the social media account and a screenshot should be provided. An emailed report will be acknowledged and managed in accordance with our policies, which are published on our website. The focus on election day will be on remediating identified issues.

Concerns about electoral material displayed or distributed at voting centres on election day may also be raised directly with voting centre managers.

Helpdesks

Our helpdesks will be available on election day from 8am to 6pm to support candidates and electors:

• Candidate helpdesk – 1300 022 011 or email candidates@elections.nsw.gov.au

• General elector enquiries – 1300 135 736 or email enquiries@elections.nsw.gov.au

2. Counting and results

Detailed information about the counting of votes and determination of results for the 2023 NSW State election is available on our website.

This includes information about:

• The Virtual Tally Room

• The location and operating hours of the Election Managers’ offices and the location and operating hours for vote counting at the centralised count centres, i.e. the Centralised Declaration Vote Count Centre, the Centralised Postal Vote Count Centre and the Legislative Council Count Centre

  • Note: For staff and candidate scrutineers’ work health and safety, counting will cease on the election night by 10:30pm

• Early voting centres to be counted on election night

  • Note: The list of early voting centres selected will be published by close of business Friday 24 March 2023.

• Sunday following election day

  • Note: No vote counting will occur on Sunday.  Sealed cartons and bags containing ballot papers and declaration vote envelopes will be transported from Election Managers' offices to the centralised count centres on this day.

• Postal vote and declaration vote scrutiny

• Overviews of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council counts

• The distribution of preferences to determine the elected candidates.

Please note that the increased number of postal votes will mean that the progress of results will be slower than at previous elections.

View a recording of the counting and results webinar held on Tuesday 21 March 2023.

3. Disinformation register

A reminder that our Disinformation Register tracks and rebuts prominent false and misleading statements about electoral processes, noting action taken by the NSW Electoral Commission in response to the disinformation. A number of new items have been added to the Register in recent days. We encourage you to view the Register and share it with other political participants, your community and networks.

False information about election processes circulating in the community, including through different forms of media, can undermine confidence in the integrity of democratic processes. The NSW Electoral Commission will continue to monitor media and social media during the election period.

View the Disinformation register.

4. Live stream – distribution of preferences Legislative Council

The NSW Electoral Commission will be livestreaming the Legislative Council distribution of preferences. There is no requirement to register to view this event. A link to view the livestreaming will be published on our website at Live events.

The streaming of the Legislative Council distribution of preferences will not be recorded. In the event there are technical difficulties that prevent the livestream, the conduct of the distribution of preferences will continue without pause. The results will be published on the NSW Electoral Commission website.

5. Candidate and participant information webinars

The next webinar will be held at 11am on Wednesday, 26 April 2023 and will cover post-election disclosure of political donations and electoral expenditure.

Register your attendance for the webinar and find more information about the webinar series.

If you are unable to attend, please note that webinars are recorded and published on the NSW Electoral Commission website.