Information for Candidates

Ballots issued

In accordance with Council Resolution OCM080/04/23 a report on the progressive number of ballots issued at each Friday is below. Note: this report is compiled by the WA Electoral Commission and is for guidance only.

	North	North West	South	% of electors
Friday, 29 September 2023	21	10	41	0.33%
Friday, 6 October 2023	44	30	123	0.89%
Friday, 13 October 2023	144	113	420	3.05%
Friday, 20 October 2023	413	425	962	8.13%

Candidate Information Session

A candidate information session was held on Wednesday, 16 August 2023 at 7:00pm at the Shire's Civic Centre at 6 Paterson Street, Mundijong.

The candidate information session addressed changes to the electoral laws that candidates should be aware of including the introduction of optional preferential voting and will include external presenters. A presentation from the session provided by the Shire is here.

At the session, the Western Australian Electoral Commission provided the following presentation.

In addition, WALGA, Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries and Western Australian Electoral Commission has partnered for an extensive webinar available here.

Candidate Induction

Amendments to Part 4 of the Local Government Act 1995 enacted by Parliament in June 2019 requires all persons seeking to nominate for council to complete an induction.

You may not be eligible to stand for election if you have not completed the induction.

The induction is available on the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries website.

The Western Australian Local Government Association and local governments, including the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale also host information sessions in the lead up to elections. While prospective candidates are encouraged to attend one or more of these sessions, to be eligible you will be required to complete the induction available on the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries website. The information sessions do not replace the need to complete the induction.

Eligibility for becoming a Council Member

To nominate to become a Council Member you must:

Be 18 years of age or older;
Not be disqualified from being an Elected Member under a provision of the Local Government Act 1995;
Be an elector of the Ward (if you are only an elector because you are a nominee of a company then you are not eligible to stand as a candidate);
Have a term that ends on Election Day, if you are a current Council Member.

Nominations

- Nominations open 31 August 2023

- Nominations close 7 September 2023

Nominations must be received by the WA Electoral Commission's Returning Officer.

Full details about eligibility and nomination procedures for prospective candidates can be obtained by contacting the Returning Officer, Kathy GECAN on 0477 899 360 or the Western Australian Electoral Commission on 13 63 06.

Optional Preferential Voting

The State Government has introduced Optional Preferential Voting to commence at the 2023 Ordinary Local Government Election.

Preferential voting is the same method used in state and federal elections. Optional preferential voting means you are not required to provide all preferences in casting your vote.

In 2023 at the Shire there will be three single vacancy elections. This means that under the optional preferential voting system, a candidate will need the support of a majority of voters to be elected. In order to achieve this, if no candidate has a majority of the first preferences, the lowest placed candidate would be eliminated and their preferences would be distributed to the voter’s next most preferred candidate. This is the same allocation of preferences that occurs in elections for the Legislative Assembly and House of Representatives.

As a result, the elected candidate is the most preferred candidate of a majority of voters.

The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries has produced a range of materials to assist electors with the change, including this short video.

Election Signage

For information on the rules that apply to the placement of election signs on private and public property within the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale, please refer to the Election Signs Information Sheet here.

Gifts Related to Candidature

For information on the rules that apply to declaring political donations and gifts related to candidature or to make a disclosure please refer to form here.

Promotional Election Resources

The following materials are provided for election promotion purposes and can be downloaded below.

DL Flyer

A3 Poster

A4 Poster

Newspaper ad - Full page

Newspaper ad - Half page - Horizontal

Newspaper ad - Half page - Vertical

Promotional corflute

Large signage

Social Media Graphic - Voters

Social Media Graphic - Candidates

Teardrop banner

Digital banner