It is compulsory to enrol and vote for your principal place of residence if you
- are an Australian citizen, or a qualified British subject*; and
- are aged 18 years or over; and
- have lived at your current address in Victoria for at least one month.
Each time you change your address, you must update your enrolment details or you may be removed from the roll and fined. Additionally, you should advise the VEC if any other enrolment details change such as your name or postal address.
*A qualified British subject for the Electoral Roll in Victoria is one who was on an Australian electoral roll between 26 October 1983 and 26 January 1984.
The electoral roll for a council election is made up of two parts; state enrolled voters and council enrolled voters. Under the Local Government Act 1989, you can vote for your principal place of residence (state enrolment) and also for property you own in another municipality (council enrolment).
You are only entitled to one vote in any single municipality. If you own multiple properties in a single municipality, for example, you may still only vote once in that municipality's local council elections
State enrolled voters are on the state/federal electoral register or electors. When you enrol for state and federal elections, you are automatically enrolled for the municipality you live in as this is your principal place of residence.
You can check if you are already on the state register of electors for Victoria with the VEC's on-line enrolment look-up.
Council enrolled voters are automatically enrolled if they own property in a municipality in which they do not live, and are the first or second named ratepayer for that property.
If you are not automatically enrolled, you can apply to enrol at local council elections if you:
- are a non-Australian citizen who lives and pays rates in the municipality; or
- pay rates on a property you occupy and have no other voting entitlement in the municipality, e.g. you are a shop tenant, and are either named on the Council's rates records to receive the rates notice or have the written consent of the owner to vote in their place; or
- are a director or company secretary of a corporation that pays rates in a municipality and have no other voting entitlement within the municipality.
If one of the categories immediately above applies to you and you would like to enrol for your council election,
contact the Revenue Manager at your local council (external link).
