Western Australia local government elections achieved a voter turnout rate of 31.6% of eligible community members. This is an increase on participation in past elections (30.2% in 2021 and 29.07% in 2019).

Vote counting for the City of Swan is anticipated to be completed on Thursday after the WA Electoral Commission moved to electronic verification of ballot papers for the mayoral election. This involves the entry and verification of the details on each ballot paper into a computer system before preferences are calculated and reported.

The Western Australian Electoral Commissioner has directed ballots to be recounted for all wards and the mayoral election in the City of Swan after discrepancies were identified in the counting completed so far. This will ensure the final results are accurate. The Commission has provided additional resources to assist in completing the counts as quickly as possible.

The WA Electoral Commission has identified an error in the mail distribution of postal ballot paper packages within the City of Fremantle, with two wards affected. Ballot papers for the wrong ward have been included in some packages.

This has impacted just over 12,000 electors in the City of Fremantle’s Central and Coastal Wards.

Overseas voting for the New Zealand 2023 General Election commenced on Wednesday 27 September and will be available to Friday 13 October at the WA Electoral Commission.

The 2023 Federal Voice Referendum is managed by the Australian Electoral Commission.

On 31 August the  Electoral Commissioner was informed by the Governor of a vacancy in the Legislative Council for the South West Region as a result of the disqualification from Parliament of Mr James Hayward. 

The WA Electoral Commission is continuing to count votes for the 2023 local government elections. Final results for most local governments are expected to be published today.

Thank you for your patience.

You can view the webinar recordings for the local government elections on our website here: 2023 local government webinars | Western Australian Electoral Commission (elections.wa.gov.au).

The WA Electoral Commission, WALGA and the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC) are hosting an Election Candidate Information Briefing webinar on Monday 14 August, from 6pm.