Voting at the council election explained

Voters at the Narrabri Shire Council election will have two options when filling out their ballot paper – voting above the line or below the line.

Above the line voting relates to groups contesting an election.

Six groups, each consisting of five people, are running in the Narrabri Shire Council election.

As a result, the ballot paper will include a group voting square (above the line).

To vote above the line, electors simply need to place a number one in their preferred group’s voting square.

If voting above the line, this means your first preference will go to the first candidate listed through to your fifth preference going to the fifth person listed on the ballot paper. You can number more than one group.

Electors can also vote below the line and must number at least five candidates, number one to five, with number one being the first preference and number two being the second preference and so forth.

Below the line, group candidates are listed below their respective groups.

Ungrouped candidates should be listed on the right of the ballot paper. There are eight ungrouped candidates.

When votes are counted, to get elected, candidates must achieve a quota (a number of votes to secure their election).

A number of counts, sometimes many, are usually conducted.

Successful candidates must win a quota of all the valid votes cast and preferences from other candidates can be included in a winning candidate’s quota.

At the close of voting on election night, initial counts for polling places and pre-poll is usually completed.

Initially, papers for all councillor positions should be sorted and counted according to the first preference vote for each candidate and the first preference votes for each group marked in the group voting square.

In the week following election day, any initial counts that were uncompleted on election night should be completed.

Declaration votes, including postal votes, should also have their initial counts completed.

In the following week, or weeks, ballot papers undergo a second count, referred to as the check count, to determine the elected candidates.

The preferences from the ballot papers are entered into the NSW Electoral Commission’s computer count system.

This system determines the formality of each ballot paper based on the preferences entered.