Local Government

The Electoral Commissioner is responsible for conducting postal elections in Western Australia and conducts voting in person elections on request under the Local Government Act 1995.  By making the Electoral Commissioner responsible for these elections, the local governments concerned ensure that elections are conducted independently and with impartiality.  In addition, these local government have adopted a method of conducting elections that is more convenient for electors and typically achieves a higher rate of voter participation.

Postal elections for local government were first trialled by four local governments in 1995. This increased to eight in 1997, 34 in 1999, 47 in 2001, 55 in 2003 and 50 in 2005.

On 20 October 2007 the 64 local governments using the postal method comprised some 1,202,329 electors in 195 wards and of all of the people who voted in the October 2007 local government elections, 94% voted in a postal election.  In a short space of time, postal elections have become the preferred way that electors now choose to participate in local decision-making.

Local Government Election Centre