Reform of the Local Government Act 1995 and the October 2023 elections
Community groups who would like to support the department’s campaign to increase voter turnout at the 2023 local government elections, as well as inform voters about election reforms and changes, can download and distribute the campaign materials to their community. This may involve:
The campaign material emphasises the importance of local government in our everyday lives and the importance of voting to support strong local democracy. This ensures elected representatives serve the needs of their community and act in their best interests.
There are several electoral reforms that will be in place for the local government elections, and it is essential your community is aware of these changes. This includes the shift to Optional Preferential Voting (OPV) and we've included one video to demonstrate how this works. The material can be used from now, while postal ballots are being delivered to homes, until in-person voting takes place on 21 October 2023.
The toolkit contains:
Your support to help us encourage people to vote and inform the community about the electoral reforms is vital to ensure voters know about these changes and their vote will count at the October elections. We urge you to utilise the toolkit and distribute the communications material extensively within your communities in the lead-up to the elections.
Download the video and the captions file to add to social media or video platform. We recommend adding captions for people with visual impairment.
Minister for Local Government
Optional Preferential Voting
Why Vote Local Government Plain English
Recently the State Government introduced the most significant reforms of local government in 25 years.
These reforms will strengthen the transparency, accountability and efficiency of local government, while enabling stronger local democracy.
Some of these reforms will have a direct impact on voting in the October 2023 local government elections.
You will find details of the reform on the Department of Local Government Sport and Cultural Industries website at https://www.dlgsc.wa.gov.au/local-government-reform
#LocalGovernment #reform #voting
The State Government is putting into action the most significant reforms to the local government sector in 25 years. The reforms will increase the transparency, accountability and efficiency of local government in WA.
One of the key reforms is the change from first-past-the-post system of voting to optional preferential voting (OPV).
This change will be introduced for the October 2023 local government elections which will now be in line with state and federal elections.
OPV will strengthen democracy by giving ratepayers a greater choice of candidates.
👉 https://www.dlgsc.wa.gov.au/optional-voting#Optional-preferential-voting
In fact it is really really easy and it is all about choices — your choices.
So just imagine there are 3 candidates 🧕👩👴
You can:1️⃣ Vote for just 1 candidate — just put a number 1 next to the name of that candidate2️⃣ Vote for some — just put a 1 next to the name of the candidate you like best and a 2 next to your second choice.3️⃣ Vote for all — put a 1 in the box for the candidate you like best and then a 2 for your second choice and a 3 for your third choice. If there are more candidates, you just keep numbering if you want to.
How easy is that?
Historically voter turnout in Western Australian local government elections has been very low. In 2021 the percentage of people who voted was around 27%.
To help improve this, DLGSC and WALGA have joined forces to create a campaign to increase turn out by 3%.
Play your part in increasing voter turnout by amplifying this campaign through your social media channels.
Here are a couple examples of ready made social media collateral you can use.