The Local Government (Elections) Amendment Regulations 2025

Overview

• Clarifying the responsibilities associated with the supply of electoral rolls to council members and candidates for the purposes of election campaigning, including by allowing the Returning Officer to provide the electoral roll to candidates. Returning Officers will also be responsible for the supply of electoral rolls to candidates for Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) run elections.
• Increasing the penalty for candidates for failure to disclose information relating to donor gifts and inserting a new prescribed form for the purposes of gift disclosures. 
• Clarifying the ability for the returning officer to check inside a postal voting envelope for an elector’s certificate, like at State elections.
• Introducing mandatory recount provisions for local government elections, including a threshold to trigger an automatic recount. The mandatory recount threshold is consistent with section 4.72A of the Local Government Act 1995 (the Act). These provisions support the Local Government Amendment Act 2023 and the introduction of optional preferential voting (OPV) to provide for when a mandatory recount of all votes must occur. 
• Removing the requirement for donors to also disclose electoral gifts. This obligation will remain solely the responsibility of the candidate. Penalties for failing to disclose a campaign gift are increased in accordance with other penalty increases introduced by the local government reforms. 

Consolidation of rolls

• The deadline for consolidation of the residents roll with the owner occupiers roll is brought forward by 7 days.
• Regulation 18 is amended by changing the date for consolidation of the residents roll with the owner and occupiers roll, from 22 days before election day to 29 days before election day. 

Supply of rolls

• Amendments are included to clarify the responsibilities associated with the supply of electoral rolls to candidates and council members (who are seeking to run in local government elections) for the purposes of electioneering.
• Regulation 21A is inserted to provide that the CEO is responsible for supplying the roll to council members.
• Regulation 22 is amended to clarify the responsibility for supplying the roll to candidates is as follows:
  • In the case of a Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) run election, it is the responsibility of the Returning Officer (RO).
  • In the case of a local government run election, it is the responsibility of the CEO, unless the RO and the CEO agree that the RO will be responsible.

Gift disclosures

• Penalties for failure to disclose a campaign gift or donation are increased from $5000 to $10,000 in accordance with increases to other penalties introduced by the local government reforms (regulation 30B).
• A daily penalty of $500 for a continuing and ongoing offence is also introduced.
• The requirement for donor disclosures is removed, the responsibility for the disclosure of gifts rests solely with the candidate (Regulation 30CA deleted).
• An exemption from prosecution for failing to declare a gift related to an election within the applicable timeframe is provided. The candidate, as soon as practicable thereafter, must provide valid reasons for failing to provide the disclosure with a supporting statutory declaration.
• An objective test is inserted to provide the basis of determining whether the candidate was unable to declare the gift within the applicable time period due to ‘circumstances beyond their control’.
• The statutory declaration setting out the circumstances that led to the candidate’s failure to make the declaration must be included in the local government’s electoral gift register.
• Form 9A is replaced. The references to donor disclosures on Form 9A are removed as a consequence of the requirement for donors to disclose gifts being removed from the regulations. 

Postal ballots

• Regulation 52 is amended to allow the returning officer to unseal a postal ballot paper envelope where an elector’s certificate has been inadvertently placed inside the envelope to retrieve the electors certificate without examining the ballot paper. This aligns with section 100M(5) of the Electoral Act 1907. 

Mandatory count threshold

• New provisions set out the circumstances (the trigger for an automatic recount) in which the returning officer must arrange for a recount of ballot papers for an election (a full re-count).
• The trigger for a mandatory recount applies as follows – 
  • The difference between the successful candidate(s) and unsuccessful candidate(s) is either:
  • Less than 1% of the total number of votes; or
  • 10 votes or less.
• The Mandatory recount trigger does not apply where an electronic counting system approved by the Electoral Commissioner has been used (currently CountWA) software) and the ballot paper has been entered into that system by one electoral officer, and then that entry is verified by way of re-entry by a separate electoral officer (the standard process for WAEC run elections).
• The RO maintains the ability to arrange a recount under their own initiative or at the request of a scrutineer under section 4.72A of the Act.