At local council elections, you elect people to represent your local municipality. The number of councillors you elect and the municipality's electoral structure are determined by the Minister for Local Government.
Each municipality in Victoria must have a council consisting of between 5 and 12 councillors. For most municipalities, once the required number of councillors has been elected, these councillors decide which one of them will act as mayor.
Voters in the City of Melbourne (external link) directly elect a leadership team consisting of a Lord Mayor and Deputy Mayor on a separate ballot paper to seven other councillors.
Details about currently elected councillors can be accessed via the Local Government Victoria website (external link).
| Time | Event |
|---|
| 57 days before election day |
Entitlement date
People must be on the State or local council roll by this date to be eligible to vote at the election.
|
| 32 days before election day |
Close of nominations
Anyone wishing to stand as a candidate must be nominated by 12 noon, 32 days before election day. |
| 17-19 days before election day |
Ballot packs are distributed (postal elections)
Ballot packs are distributed via post to every enrolled person in a random order over three days. No more than 35% of the ballot packs can be distributed on any one day. |
| 1 day before election day |
Close of voting (postal elections)
In postal elections, ballot papers must be received by the VEC by 6pm on the day before election day. |
| Election day |
In attendance elections, voters cast their votes on this day. This day must be the fourth Saturday in October. |
Local elections can be conducted by postal voting or attendance voting. Each council chooses the method that will be used. In most cases, councils use postal voting.
To vote correctly in a local council election you must number every box on the ballot paper in the order of your choice. This is because local council elections use the full preferential voting.
Because the City of Melbourne must elect both a leadership team as well as regular councillors, two ballot papers are used. The leadership team is elected using the full preferential voting system. The remaining councillor positions are determined using above or below the line voting.
- If you choose to vote above the line, you must only place a 1 in the box above the group you want to support. When voting above the line your ballot paper will be counted using preferences determined by the group you have selected.
- If you choose to vote below the line, you must place a 1 against your most preferred candidate and then number all the other boxes below the line according to your preference.
The counting system used for most local council elections depends on the number of positions available within the ward or electorate.
- When only one position is available (when a ward is represented by a single councillor) the preferential counting system is used
- When multiple positions are available (when a municipality has not been subdivided into wards, or, if a ward has multiple councillors) the proportional counting system is used.
For the City of Melbourne, the leadership team (Lord Mayor and Deputy Mayor) is determined using the
preferential counting system and the seven councillor positions are determined using the
proportional counting system.
