2023 NSW State election: Political participants bulletin No.9
Issued 6 March 2023
On this page
1. Key dates this week
Today: Monday, 6 March
Issue of writs for the election
Regulated election period commences
6pm – A person must be correctly enrolled to be either a candidate, or to nominate a candidate
Wednesday, 8 March
12 noon – Close of nominations
12 noon – Close of registration for candidates and groups
Registration of electoral material commences
Thursday, 9 March
Announcement of candidates and conduct of ballot paper draw
2. Issue of the writs
The Electoral Commissioner for NSW has received from Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales, writs dated 6 March 2023 to conduct the NSW Legislative Assembly general election and the periodic NSW Legislative Council election.
The writs specify:
the nomination day for the elections is Wednesday, 8 March 2023
the election day is Saturday, 25 March 2023
the writs are to be returned to the Governor by Friday, 5 May 2023.
3. Close of nomination lodgement period
The nomination lodgement period for the 2023 NSW State election closes at 12 noon on Wednesday, 8 March 2023.
Candidates and registered political parties must lodge their nominations, including child protection declarations, and pay the nomination deposit fee prior to the close.
Nomination forms, grouping forms, or amendments to nomination or grouping forms will not be accepted after the close of the nomination lodgement period at 12 noon on 8 March 2023.
Note: It is a strict legislative requirement that candidates and their nominators must be enrolled correctly as at 6pm on Monday, 6 March 2023. This means no final confirmation that a nomination is valid can be emailed prior to Tuesday, 7 March.
4. Legislative Council second preference groups
Each Legislative Council group of candidates with a group voting square must nominate one other group with a group voting square as its second preference group. This nomination must be made by the first candidate in the group, or by the registered officer or deputy registered officer of a registered party. The nomination is to be emailed to candidates@elections.nsw.gov.au no later than 12 noon on Friday, 10 March 2023.
Nomination of a second preference group is required in accordance with s 87 of the Electoral Act. In the event that:
a group with a group voting square ceases to have 15 candidates due to the death of a candidate in their group, and
an elector has only recorded a ‘1’ in the group voting square for that group,
A second preference will be recorded for the nominated second preference group. This is to prevent Legislative Council ballot papers informality, as electors must vote for at least 15 candidates to cast a formal vote.
5. Close of registration for candidates and groups
Candidate registration for the election closes at 12 noon on Wednesday, 8 March 2023 (the same time as the close of nominations).
Being registered as a candidate or group is a separate process to being nominated.
Candidates and groups of candidates must register for the election before accepting political donations or making payments for electoral expenditure.
Candidates and groups who do not register before being nominated are taken to be registered once they have been validly nominated. From that time, political donations can be accepted and payments can be made for electoral expenditure for the election. Candidates and groups who do not register prior to nomination will be notified by the NSW Electoral Commission and advised of their electoral funding obligations.
Any candidate or group who is not yet registered and wishes to accept political donations or make payments for electoral expenditure before being validly nominated can still apply to be registered using Funding and Disclosure Online, until 12 noon on Wednesday, 8 March 2023.
The details of registered candidates and groups are included in a publicly available register.
More information about registering as a candidate or group.
6. Ballot paper draws and ballot paper templates
Legislative Assembly
The draw to determine the order of candidates’ names on the ballot paper for each of the Legislative Assembly districts will be conducted at the respective Election Manager’s office from 10am on Thursday, 9 March 2023, the day after the close of nominations.
Candidates or their representatives, registered political parties, media and members of the public are permitted to attend the draw, subject to sufficient space being available in the office. If space is limited, preference will be given to registered political parties and nominated candidates. Although it is not necessary to register ahead of time, all visitors to our offices must provide their names and contact details and follow any directions about safety while present in a NSW Electoral Commission workplace.
Locations for the Legislative Assembly ballot paper draws are available on our website.
Legislative Council
The draw to determine the order of groups and names of ungrouped candidates on the ballot paper for the Legislative Council will commence at 10am on Thursday, 9 March 2023 at the NSW Electoral Commission’s Liverpool Street office at Level 23, 175 Liverpool Street, Sydney.
Candidates or their representatives, registered political parties, media and members of the public are permitted to attend the draw, subject to sufficient space being available in the office. If space is limited, preference will be given to registered political parties and nominated candidates. Although it is not necessary to register ahead of time, all visitors to our offices must provide their names and contact details and follow any directions about safety while present in a NSW Electoral Commission workplace.
Livestreaming of the Legislative Council ballot paper draw
The NSW Electoral Commission will be livestreaming the Legislative Council ballot paper draw. 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.
This streaming of the Legislative Council ballot paper draw will not be recorded. In the event there are technical difficulties that prevent the livestream, the conduct of the draw will continue without pause. The order of candidates/groups will be published on the NSW Electoral Commission website following the completion of the draw.
Ballot paper templates
Ballot paper templates will be provided to assist in the preparation of electoral material (how-to-vote material) distributed for the election.
Samples or representations of the ballot paper included in electoral material must be accurate, including the:
order of the candidates and/or groups
spelling of candidates’ names
inclusion or exclusion of registered political party names and the word ‘Independent’ are accurate
instructions for casting a formal vote.
7. Regulated election period commences
The regulated election period for the election commences today, Monday, 6 March 2023 and continues until 6pm on election day, Saturday, 25 March 2023.
During the regulated period, all electoral material (including how-to-vote cards) must meet the requirements of the Electoral Act 2017.
All electoral material to be distributed on election day must be registered with the NSW Electoral Commission. It is an offence to distribute unregistered electoral material on election day.
Registered political parties, groups, candidates and other persons or organisations can access the online registration system on the NSW Electoral Commission website following the ballot paper draw on Thursday, 9 March 2023.
More information about electoral material requirements.
8. Voting options available to electors
Postal voting
Electors can apply online, over the phone or by downloading and printing a form available on NSW Electoral Commission website.
Postal vote packs will start to be sent to electors from Monday, 13 March. Electors must complete their ballot papers and postal vote certificates by 6pm (AEDT) on election day, Saturday, 25 March 2023.
Completed postal ballot papers must be received by the NSW Electoral Commission 6pm on Thursday, 6 April 2023.
Overseas electors applying for a postal vote
Electors who are overseas and wish to apply for a postal vote are encouraged to do so as early as possible to ensure they receive their postal vote pack in a timely manner.
To return a postal vote from overseas, an elector can either:
deliver it in-person to an overseas postal vote return office – the locations and dates and times of operation of these offices will be published on the NSW Electoral Commission website, or
post it back to the NSW Electoral Commission directly. Posted ballot papers and postal vote certificates must be received by the NSW Electoral Commission by 6pm (AEST) on Thursday, 6 April 2023.
Details of overseas return offices, including the local times for in-person delivery will be available on the NSW Electoral Commission website.
Telephone assisted voting
Telephone assisted voting will be available to people who are blind or have low vision. Electors can apply and vote from 8am Monday, 20 March. Applications close at 6pm on Friday, 24 March. Voting will be available until 1pm on election day Saturday, 25 March 2023.
Early voting
Early voting is available on Saturday, 18 March and from Monday, 20 March to Friday 24 March 2023. Early voting opening hours can be viewed on the NSW Electoral Commission website for each venue. Some early voting venues may have different opening hours and days.
Electors can use the address lookup tool to identify their State electoral district and find information about early voting centres.
Interstate and New Zealand in-person voting is available from Monday, 20 March to Friday, 24 March 2023. View interstate and New Zealand voting locations.
Declared facilities
During the early voting period, election officials will attend hospitals, nursing homes, retirement villages or similar facilities that have requested declared facility voting. Facilities that have not requested election officials to attend have been provided postal vote application forms and instructions.
Staff and the families and carers of people who are residing in these facilities who want information about the voting arrangements should check with the facility’s management.
Election day
Voting is open from 8am to 6pm on Saturday, 25 March 2023. Electors can use the address lookup tool to identify their State electoral district and find information about voting centres.
9. Election resources on website
Our website provides a range of useful resources for political participants and voters about all aspects of the election.
We encourage you to familiarise yourselves with these resources and share them with your community and networks.
Resource |
Description |
|---|---|
Information about election processes, online systems, regulatory obligations and key dates for the election, for parties, groups, candidates, and scrutineers. | |
A centralised location for education and guidance about electoral processes and information about the NSW Electoral Commission’s key integrity activities, including our Disinformation register and Stop and Consider campaign. | |
Voter explainer and awareness videos |
Animated videos about voting at the election, how to fill out a ballot paper, postal voting, and redistribution. |
A tool for voters to find out the State electoral district in which they are enrolled, the location and opening hours of early voting and election day voting centres in their district, and information about wheelchair access. | |
Information about the election, including voting options, how to fill out a ballot paper, postal voting, as well as political donation rules, translated into 24 community languages. | |
Candidates and groups at the 2023 NSW State election Third-party campaigners at the 2023 NSW State election Organisations not registered as parties that are supporting candidates in the 2023 NSW State election - a new fact sheet about the differences between third-party campaigners and political parties (including unregistered parties), which is relevant for electoral funding purposes. Electoral expenditure for the 2023 NSW State election | |
Past bulletins |
All published 2023 NSW State election political participants bulletins. |
10. Candidate and participant information webinars
The next webinar will provide an overview of candidate workers and scrutineers. It will be held at 11am on Tuesday, 14 March 2023 and will cover the following topics:
candidate workers and scrutineers
declared facilities
compliance overview.
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.
11. Lodge pre-election disclosures and overdue half-yearly political donation disclosures now
A reminder that the pre-election donation disclosure period applies until the end of election day. Pre-election disclosures of political donations received and made up until the end of election day must continue to be submitted after election day by parties, elected members, candidates, groups of candidates, associated entities, and third-party campaigners. All reportable political donations must be disclosed within 21 days of the donation being made or received.
For example:
if a reportable donation is received on 20 March 2023, it must be disclosed to the NSW Electoral Commission no later than Monday, 10 April 2023
if a reportable donation is received on election day, it must be disclosed to the NSW Electoral Commission no later than Monday 17 April 2023 (which takes into account that election day is on a Saturday).
View pre-election donation disclosures on our website by choosing the following search options:
Relevant reporting period: 2022/2023
Disclosure types: Pre-Election Donations
More information about pre-election period disclosures.
Political donation disclosures for the half-year period ending 31 December 2022 were due on 13 February 2023.
Political parties, elected members, candidates, groups of candidates, associated entities, and third-party campaigners are required by law to lodge these disclosures with the NSW Electoral Commission.
If you have not yet submitted your disclosure form, you must do so now.
If you did not make or receive any political donations in the half-year period, or you have reported all political donations in pre-election period disclosures, you must still lodge a ‘nil’ disclosure.
Breaching the legislative requirements for disclosures may constitute a criminal offence. The NSW Electoral Commission may issue warnings, penalties, or prosecute offences including failure to lodge a disclosure by the due date and making incomplete disclosures. Once a disclosure is submitted it may be subject to a compliance audit and you may be contacted by a NSW Electoral Commission auditor.
Disclosures can be submitted using Funding and Disclosure Online or alternatively using the disclosure forms available on our website.
More information about half-yearly donation disclosures.