Residential roll

It is compulsory for all Australian citizens who are 18 years or older to be enrolled at their residential address and to vote at local government elections. The roll of electors for each council area or ward is a composite roll. All electors enrolled on the Commonwealth/State electoral roll at close of rolls will automatically appear on the residential roll prepared for each council area or ward.

A person can:

• be enrolled only once in a council area, and a person who is qualified for enrolment in more than one ward of a council area, can only be enrolled in that council by their qualification as a resident
• only appear on the residential roll for one council area, but subject to meeting the enrolment qualifications, may appear on the non-residential roll for any number of other councils.

Non-residential rolls

The non-residential rolls lapse after each local government election. Any person who appeared on this roll at a previous election will have to reapply for the next election, scheduled for 2012. Enquiries regarding properties and entitlements for the non-residential roll should be directed to the relevant council, except for the Council of the City of Sydney where non-residential rolls have been prepared by us.

Copy of the list of electors

Candidates may receive a copy of the list of electors for the area or ward they are contesting. This will be available either in hard copy or on CD and will contain the name and address of electors entitled to vote in the election. Candidates may request a list of electors by applying to the returning officer.

Candidates may only use the list of electors in connection with their candidacy at the election, and for monitoring the accuracy of information contained on the list of electors.

Candidates must treat the electoral roll with absolute privacy as it contains electors’ personal information. There are significant penalties for candidates using the electoral roll for a purpose other than in pursuit of their candidature for the election for which the roll has been prepared.