Council information webinar Q&As

The Declaration of Results will be made as soon as practicable following the recount request deadline, which falls 24 hours after the distribution of preference (DoP). A copy of the Declaration of Results will be forwarded to the council’s General Manager who will make it available for public display. 

The locations and the expected commencement date/time of each contest's DoP will be published on the NSW Electoral Commission’s website. The DoPs can only be conducted after the close of receipt of postal votes which is Friday 27 September 2024. It is anticipated the DoPs will be conducted the week commencing Monday 30 September 2024. It will take approximately 3 days to complete the DoPs for all contests.

Where a recount has been requested prior to the deadline, the Declaration of Results will be delayed until that request is finally determined, including until after the completion of any recount to be undertaken by the Returning Officer.

Signage and applicable constraints will be discussed in upcoming candidate webinars . A link to register to the webinars is available on our website. 

The NSWEC only provides guidance with respect to the legislative rules/constraints that we regulate. Council employees who are concerned about conflicts of interest should refer to their Council's Code of Conduct and seek guidance from OLG as needed.

The Act requires the general manager of a council to decide within 7 days of receipt of an application to the NRR, whether to accept that application or not.

The certified NRR is generated from the roll portal. If an elector’s status is ‘pending’ in the portal at the close of rolls, the elector will not be included in the NRR. The certified NRR will include only those electors whose status is ‘accepted’. 

Rolls close at 6pm on Monday, 5 August. Council GMs/CEOs are then required to certify their respective NRR lists, and those certifications are then to be sent to the NSW Electoral Commission. We request that we receive the signed certificates no later than 12 noon Tuesday 6 August 2024. 

The portal will be open and made available to councils in late June. 

The Electoral Commission does not direct Councils with respect to their opening hours. Council GMs/CEOs are responsible for the NRR and must ensure the necessary opening times and staffing levels to ensure they are able to receive and process applications, complete the roll certification process  and provide the signed certificate to the Electoral Commission in accordance with their statutory obligations. The Electoral Commission expects that there will be Council staff available on 5 and 6 August 2024 to manage any queries relating to the Council’s NRR.  

A list of registered candidates is published on the NSW Electoral Commission website. 

Concerns or complaints should be directed to the NSW Electoral Commission through our website. 

Council resources for the 2024 NSW Local Government elections are published on our website.

At this point, the pre-poll period as legislated is 2 weeks. However, we are expecting to receive confirmation of the pre-poll period by the end of May 2024. We are taking steps to ensure our planning can accommodate a shorter pre-poll period of one week, should the legislation change. 

The NSW Electoral Commission has information available to assist councils who are planning to conduct briefings for prospective candidates. Topics include:

•    upcoming candidate webinars and how to register to attend

•    key dates for the election

•    election processes including registration, nomination and electoral expenditure

•    how to contact the NSW Electoral Commission for more information.

Slides are available from the Council information page on our website.

Yes. In fact, you must transfer electors’ names from the expired NRR to the new NRR and then contact those electors to ask whether they would like to be on the NRR for this election. If they would, they must provide council with their current details to enable council to determine whether they are still eligible.

A council may consider a disadvantage to be that there are no new candidates admitted for a countback election, only candidates who previously stood for election but were not elected.

The returning officers will be appointed late July.

We’ll also ask the GM/CEO to review the poll/referendum ballot paper should council request us to conduct one or both of these.

No, but you need to know that the details provided in their application are still valid.

Yes. Given the General Manager’s obligation to include electors who have applied to be on the NRR at any time, and to form an opinion by the closing date as to whether those persons remain qualified to be included in the NRR, this is appropriate. 

The legislation requires the candidate to provide the name and full street address of the person who is authorising the electoral material. That street address does not need to be the candidate’s residential address but must be an address where the candidate is readily contactable.

The non-residential roll portal will be available in late June 2024.

No. An elector can only cast one vote per LGA.

The ‘Save the date’ resources are available now for councils on our website. Further resources will be available through July, August and September.

Yes. However, on election night the referendum ballot papers will not be sorted to the Yes and No questions. The sorting of the referendum ballot papers will occur in the weeks following election day. The results will be published on our website progressively for each voting venue and vote type.

The legislation requires the candidate to provide the name and full street address of the person who is authorising the electoral material. That street address does not need to be the candidate’s residential address but must be an address where the candidate is readily contactable.

Information on Countback elections can be found on our website.

We will also create some additional material to help councils and councillors better understand countback elections.

The Office of Local Government should be contacted regarding this information.

We are unable to advise councils regarding scheduling of council meetings. However, as the results will not be declared prior to 1 October, no councillors will have been appointed.

Candidates should not use anything on their material which would give the impression that they are being endorsed by the council (e.g., council address).

Candidate webinars will commence in May 2024. Information on webinars, including registration will be made available on our website.

No, council does not submit the residential rolls to the AEC. The non-residential rolls must be submitted to us.

Information on voting options for the 14 September 2024 elections will be available on our website closer to the election date. 

Correct.