Elections are normally held every four years, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic they have twice been postponed from September last year.

This means that the councils elected in December will serve a shorter term, so that the elections in 2024 may occur as scheduled in the September of that year.

Most people are required to vote by attending a voting centre on election day or, alternatively, a pre-poll centre prior to December 4.

In limited circumstances, people may apply to the NSW Electoral Commission to cast a postal or electronic vote.

CANDIDATE nominations opened on Monday, October 25 and closed on Wednesday, November 3. People could nominate as an independent candidate or as part of a group.

In 35 local government areas, including Orange and Port Macquarie-Hastings but not Bathurst, voters will also elect a mayor. In others, it will be the elected councillors who choose the mayor for a two-year term.

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The question of a directly-elected mayor has been debated on several occasions in Bathurst but the question of possibly changing the current method of mayoral election has never been put to the people.

To make the change, Bathurst Regional Council would have to hold a constitutional referendum (most likely in conjunction with a future local government election) asking all voters which method of mayoral election (directly by the people or by the elected councillors) they prefer.

In some local government areas, such as Dubbo, councillors are elected to represent wards, while in others there is a single election to elect councillors for the whole local government area.

Councils have between five and 15 members. In Bathurst there are nine councillors.

VOTING is compulsory, and everybody who is enrolled to vote for federal and state elections is on the roll for their local government area.

Residents may check that they are enrolled on the Australian Electoral Commission website. This is also where first-time voters may go to enrol. The fine for not voting is $55.

Owners or occupiers of land in a local government area that is not their primary residence may apply to the council for inclusion on that area's non-residential roll.

It is only in the City of Sydney that people on the non-residential roll must vote.

NSW local government elections use a form of preferential voting called proportional representational voting.

The minimum number of candidates to whom voters must give preference depends on the number of candidates who will be elected. For example, if nine candidates are to be elected (as is the case in Bathurst), voters must vote for five candidates in order of preference - but can vote for more if they wish.

In areas where candidates are standing as part of a group, voters may instead vote above the line, as in Senate elections. In this case, preferences will be distributed according to the order that the group has determined.

There are 11 above-the-line groups listed on the Bathurst Regional Council ballot paper for this election.

A candidate must receive a "quota" of the total votes to be elected.

The quota is determined by first dividing the total number of formal votes by one more than the number of candidates to be elected. The quotient (disregarding the fraction) is increased by one to give the quota. After the count of first preferences is complete, each candidate who has reached quota is elected.

Where an elected candidate has a surplus of ballot papers over the quota, this surplus is transferred to the continuing candidates (i.e. those not yet elected or excluded).

If multiple candidates are elected, each candidate's surplus is transferred (one at a time) to the continuing candidates, from the highest surplus to the lowest.

This process continues with candidates being:

until either:

In these circumstances, the elected candidates are elected despite not reaching the quota.

It can several days, even weeks, to conclude the count.

(Information for this article has been sourced from the NSW Electoral Commission.)

Dominic O'Sullivan is a professor in Political Science in the School of Social Work and Arts at Charles Sturt University.

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