New Voting Requirements and Ballot Grouping for Council Elections
Electoral Amendment (Miscellaneous Matters) Bill 2026
1st House
2nd House
Law
Introduced by: Anthony Carbines (ALP), Ingrid Stitt (ALP)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
Group voting tickets are removed from Council elections.
Voters must number at least 1 to 5 in an unbroken sequence to vote above the line if more than five groups are contesting.
Voters must number all squares consecutively from 1 if five or fewer groups are contesting.
A tick or cross in a square above the line counts as a number 1.
Ballots are not informal if a voter marks numbers both above and below the line; provided they mark at least one square above the line starting with 1.
Candidates not endorsed by a party can request to be grouped together on the ballot.
Registered party officers can request that their endorsed candidates be grouped on the ballot.
Entering into or carrying out schemes to influence voting becomes an indictable offence.