NSW State by-elections 2022: Political Participants Bulletin No.1
Bulletin No.1
Issued 21 January 2022
Announcement of State by-elections
Issue of writs
The Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly, the Hon. Jonathan O’Dea MP, has issued the writs for the by-elections to be held in the electoral districts of Willoughby, Monaro, Bega and Strathfield. The by-elections will be held on Saturday, 12 February 2022.
Webinar
The NSW Electoral Commission will conduct a webinar at 11am on Tuesday 25 January 2022 that will cover the following topics:
Election timetable
Election Funding and disclosure
Nominations
Electoral Material
Early voting and Election day voting
Candidate and party workers
Results
Scrutineers
Allegations, offences and feedback process
Resources
Register your attendance for this webinar.
The webinar will be recorded and placed on our website for viewing later if you are unable to attend at the scheduled time.
Election calendar
The election calendar can be found on the NSW Electoral Commission website.
Website
Throughout the election period our website will be updated with information about the by-elections including the nomination process, ballot paper draws, voting information, electoral material, scrutineering and counting and results.
The nomination forms are located on the website under ‘Step 4 Nominate as a candidate’.
Information about the rules that apply to political donations and electoral expenditure can be found under the Funding and Disclosure section of the website.
Candidate helpdesk
The Candidate Helpdesk is available from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday on 1300 022 011, and from 8am to 6pm on election day, for candidates, registered political parties and other political participants.
All enquiries relating to the nomination process, electoral material, ballot papers, ballot paper draw, scrutineers, party workers and counting and results can be directed to the candidate helpdesk.
Email enquiries about candidate and third-party campaigner electoral funding registrations and the rules that apply to political donations and electoral expenditure generally can be directed to fdc@elections.nsw.gov.au.
All other email enquiries by political parties, candidates and other political participants should be sent using the Contact us form on the website.
Enquiries from members of the public about enrolment, voting options, etc., should be directed to 1300 135 736 or elections.nsw.gov.au.
Relevant legislation
The by-elections will be conducted in accordance with the Electoral Act 2017.
The rules that apply to political donations and electoral expenditure, including the registration of candidates and third-party campaigners, are administered in accordance with the Electoral Funding Act 2018. Fact sheets that summarise the electoral funding requirements for political parties, candidates and third-party campaigners are available on the website.
The NSW Electoral Commission is responsible for investigating possible offences and enforcing breaches of the Electoral Act 2017 and Electoral Funding Act 2018.
Electoral funding requirements
Candidates who intend to accept political donations or make payments for electoral expenditure prior to being nominated must be registered for electoral funding purposes. Applications for registration are open now and can be made online using Funding and Disclosure Online. Applications close Thursday, 27 January 2022.
Third-party campaigners must be registered prior to paying for more than $2,000 of electoral expenditure incurred in the capped expenditure period for the election (Friday 21 January to Saturday 12 February). Registration forms are available on the website. Applications close Monday, 7 February 2022.
Information about the rules that apply to political donations and electoral expenditure can be found under the Funding and Disclosure section of the website.
Nominating to become a candidate for a by-election is a separate step from the requirement to register with the NSW Electoral Commission for electoral funding purposes. Being registered for electoral funding purposes does not mean a candidate’s name will appear on a ballot paper. Validly completed nomination forms and a nomination deposit must be lodged by 12 noon on the nomination day, the day on which nominations close, to appear on the ballot paper.
Nomination lodgement period
Nominations may only be lodged in the following ways:
In person at the NSW Electoral Commission, 231 Elizabeth Street, Sydney by prior appointment.
In person at the election manager’s office in the relevant electoral district
By email to candidates@elections.nsw.gov.au, noting that the nomination deposit cannot be paid by email and must be paid separately by cash or bank/building society cheque at the relevant election manager’s office or at 231 Elizabeth Street (by prior appointment) before 12 noon, Thursday 27 January 2022.
To ensure nomination papers are received within the strict, legislated timeframes, nominations should not be lodged by post, and should not be sent to any of the post office boxes used by the Electoral Commission. Online lodgement is not available for these by-elections.
The NSW Electoral Commission’s Sydney CBD office is currently closed to visitors due to COVID-19 restrictions. To deliver a nomination in person, please make an appointment by calling 1300 022 011 or email candidates@elections.nsw.gov.au.
Locations of the election manager’s office for each district are:
Bega: 31-33 Parker Street, Bega 2550
Monaro: Level 3, Suite 2-3, 7-9 Morisset Street, Queanbeyan 2620
Strathfield: 52 Hampstead Road, Homebush West 2140
Willoughby: Ground Floor, 501 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood 2067
COVID safety measures are in place at NSW Electoral Commission offices including election manager’s offices to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19. Visitors are advised to follow relevant COVID safety directions and measures.
Nominations are now open and will close at 12 noon, Thursday 27 January 2022. Please note the NSW Electoral Commission Sydney CBD office and each of the election manager’s offices will be closed on Australia Day, Wednesday 26 January 2022.
A registered political party or candidate is required to lodge one of the following nomination forms as applicable to the candidate who is being nominated:
Registered Political Party candidate nomination (SE.202); or
Nomination of a candidate by 25 electors (SE. 201).
Each nomination form must also be accompanied by the following:
Child protection declaration (SE.227); and
$250 nomination deposit in the form of cash or bank/building society cheque.
Late nominations or late nomination deposits will not be accepted. No corrections to nomination forms can be made after 12 noon on the nomination day, even if incomplete or inaccurate forms were lodged prior to that time.
Postal vote packs
The Electoral Regulation 2018 (the Regulation) under the Electoral Act 2017 (the Act) has recently been amended to allow for the Electoral Commissioner, if satisfied it is necessary to comply with a public health order, or to reduce the risk of infection from COVID-19 to declare that electors of a specified electoral district are COVID-19 affected electors for a by-election.
A copy of this Regulation can be found here.
The Electoral Commissioner has made orders today declaring the electors of each by-election district to be “COVID-19 affected” in accordance with the new Regulation. The orders will be published on our website.
Accordingly, a postal vote pack will be sent to all electors in each of the 4 by-election districts, without the need for an application to be made first. It is anticipated the postal packs will commence being sent from Monday, 31 January.
The postal vote pack will include advice that electors may view registered electoral material on the NSW Electoral Commission website. It is important to note that candidates, political parties and other persons intending to register electoral material should register their material as soon as possible from Thursday, 28 January onwards to ensure the material is available for viewing on our website.
Electors may still choose not to cast a postal vote and to attend an early voting centre instead during the two week period prior to election day or attend a voting centre on election day.
Electors who choose to complete a postal vote ballot paper must do so by 6pm on election day. The deadline for the return of postal votes to the NSW Electoral Commission has been amended by legislation from the Wednesday after election day to 6pm on the 13th day after election day, i.e. 6pm, Friday 25 February 2022.
iVote not available
To mitigate the risks of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NSW Electoral Commission was authorised to provide internet voting for the first time for the December 2021 state-wide local government elections. Before it can be used again for any NSW elections, the iVote system requires extensive reconfiguration and testing. As this work is ongoing it is not possible for iVote to be used at these by-elections. A telephone voting service will be available for electors who are blind or have low vision.
Ballot paper draw
The announcement of candidates and ballot paper draw will be conducted from 8:30am, Friday 28 January 2022 at the Election Manager’s office. The ballot paper draw is a public event, however, due to the pandemic, observing the ballot paper draw in person must be subject to the following COVID-19 safety requirements:
use of the venue QR code check in, or the manual process available if attendees do not have a smart phone,
wearing of face masks, for attendees’ own safety and that of those around them (noting that all NSW Electoral Commission workers are also required to wear masks),
maintaining physical distancing of 1.5m between people to the venue capacity of 1 person per 4 square metres. This includes refraining from shaking hands or other physical contact, and
use of hand sanitising stations located throughout the Election Manager’s office.
Attendees at the ballot paper draw are visitors to our workplace and consequently have their own duties under workplace health and safety laws. If they refuse to follow the COVID-19 safety protocols outlined above they will be asked to leave the venue by election officials.
Electoral Material
Registration of electoral material
The registration of electoral material period commences Thursday, 27 January 2022 and closes 5pm, Friday 4 February 2022.
All electoral material that is to be distributed on election day by registered political parties, groups, candidates, and any other persons or organisations, must be registered with the NSW Electoral Commission. "Distribution" also means the placement of electoral material in a public place that can be collected by voters.
It is an offence to distribute electoral material on election day unless the material has been registered.
Posters are not required to be registered but they must comply with the requirements detailed in the candidate handbook under step 1 of the six steps to being a candidate.
Guide to creating accessible documents
The NSW Electoral Commission encourages registered electoral materials to be made accessible so that electors who are blind or have low vision can use tools like screen readers to help them access the materials.
Please refer to the Accessibility Guide under step 5 of the six steps to being a candidate for further assistance.
Requirements for electoral material authorisation
A person must not, during the regulated election period, print, publish, distribute or publically display electoral material (other than the announcement in a newspaper of the holding of a meeting), without legibly showing on the material:
the name and address of the individual on whose instructions the material was printed, published, distributed or displayed and
if the material has been printed, the name of the printer and the street address of the premises at which it was printed.
The address of a person means an address, including a full street address and suburb or locality that is located in Australia at which the person can usually be contacted during the day, but does not include a post office box.
A street address of the premises does not include a post office box number or a DX number.
The NSW Electoral Commission has created a document How to vote card templates to provide guidance for candidates and parties for the production of their electoral material, this can be found under step 5 of the six steps to being a candidate.
Material must not appear to be authorised by the NSW Electoral Commission
Electoral material must not appear to be an official communication from the NSW Electoral Commission or Electoral Commissioner. At a minimum, parties and candidates should make sure their electoral material:
includes a candidate name, logo or party name in a prominent size and position;
does not include text that states or infers it is the advice of the NSW Electoral Commission or Electoral Commissioner (e.g. about voting formally); and
does not use design features (such as colour schemes) that are commonly associated with the NSW Electoral Commission or Australian Electoral Commission.
Display of electoral material on website
Registered electoral material will be displayed on the NSW Electoral Commission website from Monday, 31 January 2022 until 6.30pm on election day.
Electoral material that is registered during the first week of early voting and prior to the closure of registration of electoral material will be progressively updated to the website.
Social media authorisation
Political parties, candidates, third-party campaigners and associated entities should ensure their staff are aware of the authorisation requirements in relation to electoral material, particularly when posting publicly on social media during the regulated period.
The Electoral Regulation 2018 contains specific rules about authorisations for social media posts, including Clause 8A.
Further information
Visit the NSW Electoral Commission’s website for information about the key dates, processes and rules that must be followed.
Information for candidates and parties can be found under the six steps to being a candidate.