The Election Process

The City has appointed the Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) to run the election and the Commission appoints a Returning Officer. The Returning Officer oversees the election, which includes taking candidate nominations and supervising the count on election night.

This year's election will be conducted via postal voting.

Electors of the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder (those on the electoral roll) will receive an election package by mailed post approximately three weeks before election day. This will contain one ballot paper to vote for the Mayor and Councillors, candidate profiles, a declaration envelope, and pre-paid return envelope.

The completed ballot must be returned to the City by 6pm on Election Day. The count starts at 6pm that same day and the results are normally available in the evening.

Returning your vote

By mail

1. Complete the ballot papers and place them in the declaration envelope
2. If posting your vote, place your declaration envelope inside the pre-paid envelope and post the envelope in the mail.

* Please refer to the Australia Post website for the most up-to-date information on letter delivery times.

In person

1. Complete the ballot papers and place them in the declaration envelope
2. Place the envelope inside the ballot box at the City's Administration Building, 577 Hannan St. Kalgoorlie. Opening hours are Monday to Friday 8:30am - 4.30pm and on Saturday, 21 October 2023 from 8am - 6pm

The voting system

The State Government have made changes to the Local Government Act 1995 which include reforms to to ensure local governments better serve residents and ratepayers.

The key electoral reforms that will be implemented for the October 2023 elections are:

• introducing optional preferential voting, bringing local government elections back in line with State and Federal elections and restoring the right of electors to express preferences
• requiring public election of the mayor or president for all larger councils (this was already conducted in Kalgoorlie-Boulder for previous elections)
• changes in representation including aligning the size of councils with the size of the population of each local government area.

You will find details of the reforms on the Department of Local Government Sport and Cultural Industries website.

How to vote

The ‘first past the post’ system of voting has been changed to optional preferential voting (OPV) for the 2023 local government elections.