Optional preferential voting

In 2023, the State Government introduced optional preferential voting for local government elections.

Optional preferential voting is very similar to the way you vote in State and Federal elections, however you do not have to assign every candidate with your preference. You can vote for one, some or all candidates on the ballot paper.

With optional preferential voting, if the candidate you have given your first preference to is eliminated from the count, your vote will be redistributed to your next preference on the ballot paper. This process continues until one candidate has the majority of votes.