Countback elections

Prior to the ordinary local government elections held in December 2021, amendments to legislation enabled councils in New South Wales to choose for the first time to use countback elections, instead of by-elections, to fill any councillor vacancies arising after the ordinary elections.

Of the 128 local councils in New South Wales, 99 passed a resolution to use countback elections. Four councils did not conduct ordinary elections in 2021 and therefore countback is not yet an option for them (these four councils are Balranald Shire Council, Central Coast Council, Central Darling Shire Council and Wingecarribee Shire Council). The remaining 25 councils will continue to require a by-election to be conducted should a casual vacancy occur.

Should a countback election be conducted, the count is conducted using the same ballot papers from, and the same proportional representation voting count system as, the previous general election (that is, the ballot papers from the local government elections held on 4 December 2021.

Timeline

The timeline for a countback election is:

1. The Electoral Commissioner is notified of a casual vacancy, within seven days of it occuring.

2.  A Returning Officer is appointed within 14 days of the notification of the vacancy.

3. Casual vacancy notices are issued within 14 days of the appointment of the returning officer.

4. Where a candidate is interested, they must submit a formal application to the returning officer. The application period closes after 10 days of the notices being issued.

5. The countback is conducted at least 14 days from when the vacancy notices are issued and no more than 49 days from when the casual vacancy occurred.

If there are no eligible candidates, an attendance by-election must be held. If there is only one eligible candidate, that candidate is elected. If there are multiple eligible candidates, a countback election is conducted.

How votes are counted

The countback election will be run using the same ballot papers from, and the same proportional representation voting count system as, the general election.

The countback election is run with all ineligible candidates (e.g. councillors who have vacated their seat) being disregarded and their preferences reallocated accordingly. In other words, each ballot paper with that candidate as a preference would be allocated to the candidate with the next highest preference on that ballot paper.

Example 1: Councillor Sue Jones resigns

Left: Original ballot paper. Right: Countback preferences.

Example 2: Councillor Sue Jones resigns

Left: Original ballot paper. Right: Countback preferences.

In the case of groups, if the first candidate in a group is vacating their seat, the Above The Line preferences for that group would be allocated to the second candidate in that group, as would any Below The Line preferences that marked the first candidate in that group as 1 and the second candidate in that group as 2.

Example 3: Councillor John Brown resigns

Original ballot paper – Above The Line vote for Group A

• 1^st preference for Brown

• 2^nd preference for Leigh

• 3^rd preference for Ngyuen

Countback preference – Above The Line vote for Group A

• 1^st preference for Leigh

• 2^nd preference for Ngyuen

Example 4: Councillor John Brown resigns

Original ballot paper – Below The Line vote

Countback preferences – Below The Line vote

When the countback election is conducted, the same number of candidates will be “elected” as there were vacancies at the general election (because the same voting count system is used). Of these, the first newly “elected” candidate (i.e. not a sitting councillor) will be the candidate to be elected.

If a non-participating candidate (i.e. a candidate who did not want to considered for election in this countback election) was elected, their status is changed to ineligible and the countback is run again. This newly ineligible candidate will be disregarded and their preferences reallocated accordingly. This process will continue until an eligible candidate is elected.

Eligible candidates and the council are then notified of the result.

At a countback election, a sitting councillor cannot be unelected, and non-eligible candidates cannot be elected.

Councils using countback elections

Council	Council	Council
Albury	Glen Innes Severn	Oberon
Armidale	Goulburn Mulwaree	Orange
Ballina	Greater Hume	Parkes
Bathurst	Griffith	Parramatta
Bayside	Gunnedah	Port Macquarie-Hastings
Bega Valley	Gwydir	Port Stephens
Bellingen	Hawkesbury	Queanbeyan-Palerang
Berrigan	Hay	Randwick
Blacktown	Hilltops	Shellharbour
Bland	Hornsby	Shoalhaven
Blayney	Inner West	Singleton
Bogan	Inverell	Snowy Monaro
Byron	Junee	Snowy Valleys
Cabonne	Kempsey	Sutherland
Camden	Kiama	Sydney
Campbelltown	Lake Macquarie	Tamworth
Canada Bay	Lane Cove	Temora
Canterbury-Bankstown	Lithgow	The Hills
Cessnock	Liverpool	Tweed
Clarence Valley	Liverpool Plains	Upper Hunter
Coffs Harbour	Lockhart	Upper Lachlan
Coolamon	Maitland	Walcha
Coonamble	Mid-Coast	Walgett
Cootamundra-Gundagai	Mid-Western	Warren
Cowra	Moree Plains	Warrumbungle
Cumberland	Mosman	Waverley
Dungog	Muswellbrook	Weddin
Edward River	Nambucca Valley	Wentworth
Eurobodalla	Narrabri	Willoughby
Federation	Narrandera	Wollondilly
Forbes	Newcastle	Wollongong
Georges River	North Sydney	Woollahra
Gilgandra	Northern Beaches	Yass Valley

Councils not running countback elections

Council	Council
Balranald	Lachlan
Blue Mountains	Leeton
Bourke	Lismore
Brewarrina	Murray River
Broken Hill	Murrumbidgee
Burwood	Narromine
Carrathool	Penrith
Central Coast	Richmond Valley
Central Darling	Ryde
Cobar	Strathfield
Dubbo	Tenterfield
Fairfield	Uralla
Hunters Hill	Wagga Wagga
Ku-ring-gai	Wingecarribee
Kyogle

Countback elections are described in Schedule 9A of the Local Government (General) Regulation 2021.

A countback election is used to elect a councillor to fill a single vacancy, where the vacating councillor was elected under the proportional representation method (i.e. where two or more candidates were elected at a local government ordinary election). If there are multiple vacancies, a separate countback election is held for each vacancy.

The returning officer contacts all unelected candidates from the local government ordinary election who may still qualify to be elected to the office of councillor. Where the candidate is interested, they must submit a formal application to the returning officer. All candidates who submit and do not withdraw their application, become eligible candidates.