2024 NSW Aboriginal Land Council elections: Candidates bulletin No.1
Bulletin No.1
Issued 23 February 2024
On this page
1. Election day
Polling places will open on election day, Saturday 24 February 2024, from 8am until 6pm. The list of polling places can be found on the NSW Electoral Commission’s website.
2. Electoral material and candidate workers
Handing out how-to-vote material and leaflets outside a polling place must not obstruct access to the polling place.
Campaigning and handing out how-to-vote material inside a polling place is not permitted.
3. Counting and results
Election night counting
The Initial Count of ordinary ballot papers will be conducted on election night from 6pm to approximately 10pm in each polling place. Initial count results will be published on our website as soon as practicable.
Sunday following election day
No counting will occur on the Sunday following election day.
Scrutiny and counting of postal votes
The close of return of completed postal votes is 6pm, Friday 8 March 2024.
The scrutiny of all returned postal votes will be conducted at the Regional Electoral Officer’s office at Level 23, 175 Liverpool Street, Sydney NSW 2000. This includes:
- scrutiny of postal vote certificates – this is to determine whether the postal vote is to be admitted to the count
- extraction of ballot papers from the accepted postal vote envelopes.
| Postal vote scrutiny timelines | Postal vote extraction and count timeline |
|---|---|
Commences the week beginning Monday, 26 February 2024 |
- 11am Friday, 8 March 2024, Initial Count followed by the Check Count of the first progressive count - Shortly after 6pm Friday, 8 March, Initial Count followed by the Check Count of the remaining accepted postal votes received by 6pm. |
Scrutiny and counting of disputed votes
Disputed votes are votes cast by an elector and placed in an envelope because:
- the person’s name could not be found on the roll
- the roll indicates the person had already voted.
The scrutiny of disputed vote envelopes will also be conducted at the Regional Electoral Officer’s office. This includes:
- scrutiny of the disputed vote envelopes – this is to determine whether the disputed vote is to be admitted to the count
- extraction of ballot papers from the accepted disputed vote envelopes.
| Disputed votes scrutiny timeline 'Name Not on Roll' and 'Name Already Marked as Voted’ |
Disputed votes extraction and count timeline |
|---|---|
Commences the week beginning Monday, 26 February 2024 |
Commences 9am Monday, 4 March, Initial Count followed by the Check Count |
Check Count
After the Initial Count, all ballot papers undergo a Check Count. The Check Count is a manual process which consists of re-checking the ballot papers and ascertaining the first preference for each candidate and the final informal votes.
The Check Count is conducted at the Regional Electoral Officer’s office.
The Check Count will commence on the Monday following election day and will continue after the close of receipt of postal vote certificates until all check counts are complete.
Distribution of Preferences
The Distribution of Preferences (DoP) to determine the elected candidate can only be conducted after the close of receipt of postal vote certificates and all check counts are complete.
The DoP is a manual process and is scheduled to be conducted at the Regional Electoral Officer’s office on Monday, 11 March 2024.
The DoP reports will be published on our website as soon as practicable after the DoP is complete.
4. Appointment Scrutineers
Candidates are entitled to have a scrutineer present at each location that postal votes, disputed votes and ballot papers are scrutinised and counted.
A scrutineer must be appointed in writing using the ALC.213 Appointment of scrutineer form. Scrutineers are required to present a completed Appointment of scrutineer form each day at each location they attend.
For more information, visit our website to view the ALC.200 Candidate and scrutineers guide.
5. Further information/candidate helpdesk
Further information regarding the election including key dates can be found on the NSW Electoral Commission website.
The candidate helpdesk will be available from 7am until 6pm on election day, Saturday 24 February 2024 by contacting 1300 022 011 or candidates@elections.nsw.gov.au.