How to vote
in the 2021 WA Local Government Elections
Important Information
This information is just general advice. Some councils may use a slightly different system to one outlined below. Always read your ballot before completing it.
Congratulations, you have decided to vote! While it might seem daunting at first, it is not that difficult to vote if you pay attention to the instructions.
What am I voting for?
There are two different elections held during local government elections: the election of half the members of council (councillors) and the election of the local Mayor (only applicable to city and town councils).
Councillor elections
For the election of half the council, each council decides how the council is split up. There are the two options:
Whole of council elections: Each member of council (councillor) represents every part of the council, no matter where they live.
Council ward elections: The council is divided into areas (called wards) based on population and other factors. Certain members of council represent certain parts of the council, and must live within that part of the council. Each ward elects a certain number of members (councillors) to the council.
Mayoral elections
As there is only one position, the position of mayor on a city or town council (e.g. City of Perth, Town of Victoria Park) is only chosen every four years. People who run for mayor can also run at the same time to be a member of council (councillor).
How do you vote?
No matter what type of election it is, all follow a similar system.
As a general route, you will asked to tick a number of boxes equal to the number of positions avaliable on council. For the election of the Mayor, this generally means you will only need to mark one box. For councillor elections, you will likely been given the choice to mark the number of boxes up to the number of councillors to be elected.
Example:
There are seven people running for four positions on the City of Perth council. In this case, you can mark one, two, three or four boxes on the ballot paper. However, if you mark more than four, your ballot will not count.
How do you mark your ballot?
Our rule for this is simple: mark it the way it says on the ballot paper. If it asks for a tick, use a tick. If it asks for a cross, use a cross. If it asks for a number, number the boxes.
Ultimatly, we can not predict everything which is going to happen in more than 130 different councils, so just read the instructions on the ballot paper/s.
How does it work?
No matter what the council, the voting system used for local government elections in WA is called "first past the post". Basically, whoever gets the largest number of votes in the first round of counting is elected. There are no benchmarks candidates need to reach (e.g. 25% for one position when four are avaliable) to get elected, other than to finish in the top position/s.
While there have been questions about just how democratic this system is (particuarly in the case of mayoral elections), it is what it is. So if you really don't want someone to become mayor or a councillor, vote in a way which is most likely to prevent them getting a position.