2024 NSW Local Government elections: Political participants bulletin No.10

Bulletin No.10
Issued 2 September 2024

Close of registration of electoral material

Any electoral material, including how-to-vote material, distributed on election day, Saturday, 14 September 2024 must be registered with the NSW Electoral Commission.

The period for registration of electoral material ends at 5pm on Friday, 6 September 2024.

Late applications cannot be accepted.

Useful links:

• Electoral material information in the Candidate handbook
• Requirements for registration of electoral material and how-to-votes
• Register your electoral material online
• Ballot paper templates.

Registered electoral material will be progressively published to our website.

Note: Posters do not require registration.

Display of posters

The NSW Electoral Commission regulates the display of posters in two ways:

• whether it complies with requirements about its content, e.g. that it includes the name and address of the person authorising the material, but also that it does not contain incorrect or misleading information about voting. For more information, refer to ‘Non-complying electoral material’ in the electoral material section of the handbook
• whether it has been placed in or on certain places, e.g. posters are not permitted within 6 metres of venues at which people are voting.

Posters must also not be displayed on or within any premises occupied or used by, or under the control or management of:

• the Crown, or a NSW Government agency
• any Council.

Posters must also not be displayed on or within any other premises without the permission in writing of the owner of the premises. ‘Premises’ means any structure or building, including an electricity or other utility pole.

For more information, refer to the section about posters in the candidate handbook.

Electoral material enquiries or complaints

If you have concerns that electoral material distributed or published is or was unlawful, complaints should be made in writing by email to candidates@elections.nsw.gov.au. A complaint should include a copy of the electoral material. For electoral material published online, a URL link or the name of the social media account and a screenshot should be provided.

The NSW Electoral Commission conducts elections in accordance with the law and in a transparent, fair and impartial way. While your complaint will be acknowledged, you may not receive a response, particularly on election day, explaining what action has been taken. We may also be limited in what can be confirmed about any investigation or other action that is taken.

The NSW Electoral Commission will consider its compliance and enforcement policies when reviewing complaints about electoral material. Relevant principles include:

• proportionality: any action decided upon by the NSW Electoral Commission will be proportionate to the seriousness of potential breaches of the law and the surrounding circumstances
• prioritisation: complaints are prioritised according to several considerations, including but not limited to legislative timeframes and the known or foreseeable impact of potential breaches of the law, and
• use of resources: decisions are made about allegations, including potential investigation and enforcement action, in a way that uses the resources of the NSW Electoral Commission appropriately.

Regulatory priorities and the Disinformation register

We publish regulatory priorities each year to assist political participants to understand their obligations and to show how and where we will focus our regulatory efforts.

View our Regulatory priorities.

One of our priorities is to uphold the integrity of elections by responding in a timely manner to material that may mislead the community about electoral processes, including:

• Electoral material containing misleading statements about how to cast a valid vote
• Electoral material that appears to be an official communication of, or authorised by, the NSW Electoral Commission.

We also publish a Disinformation register on our website.

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 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. We encourage you to view the register and share it with other political participants, your community, and networks.

The NSW Electoral Commission will continue to monitor media and social media during the election period. 

View the Disinformation register.

Candidate and party workers

Candidate and party workers distribute electoral material (including how-to-vote cards) and display posters at the places people vote. 

Candidate and party workers are allowed to:

• display posters and distribute electoral material outside 6 metres from the entrance of a polling place or pre-poll venue, subject to any directions relating to safety and order issued by election officials
• use the toilet facilities
• enter a place where people are voting to discuss safety or order issues with the election official in charge, or to collect or store electoral material (if space permits) when voting is not occurring.

A briefing will occur at each venue for candidate and party workers before the commencement of voting each day. Please watch the briefing to candidate and party workers to familiarise yourself with the process and your obligations.

Close of registration for third-party campaigners

Third-party campaigner registration for the elections closes on Monday, 9 September 2024.

Third-party campaigners must register before making payments for electoral expenditure incurred during the capped expenditure period (1 July 2024 to election day 14 September 2024). Making payments without being registered is an offence under NSW electoral funding law.

A third-party campaigner is an individual or entity that incurs more than $2,000 in electoral expenditure during the capped expenditure period in relation to the election but does not stand as a candidate or group, and is not a political party, associated entity, or elected member. When registering, a third-party campaigner must appoint an official agent who is required to comply with disclosure and campaign account legal requirements on behalf of the third-party campaigner.

Applications to be registered as a third-party campaigner and appoint an official agent can be made using Funding and Disclosure Online.

The details of third-party campaigners and official agents who are registered for the 2024 local government elections are published on our website.

Reminder: Counting and results candidate information webinar

The next webinar will be held on Tuesday, 10 September at 11am and will cover:

• scrutineers
• counting and results timeline
• distribution of preferences.

Register for the webinar.