Pre-poll voting for the Lismore City Council Elections starts at 9am tomorrow morning (Saturday) at two venues in the Lismore LGA:

• Lismore Region Returning Officer's Office, 4 Zadoc Street, Lismore CBD. There is undercover parking available via Molesworth Street.
• Goonellabah Community Centre, 27 Oliver Avenue, Goonellabah

Whether local, state or federal elections, pre-poll voting has consistently reached 50% of all votes cast over the last four years.

A reminder that there are early voting criteria you need to adhere to:

• will be outside your ward or council area on election day
• will be more than 8km from a voting centre (polling place) in your ward or council area on election day
• will be travelling and unable to attend a voting centre on election day
• are seriously ill or infirm, and due to such illness or infirmity will be unable to attend a voting centre
• are approaching maternity
• have religious membership or beliefs that prevent you from attending a voting centre on election day
• are in a correctional centre and prevented from attending a voting centre on election day
• are caring for a person outside of a hospital setting, which prevents you from attending a voting centre on election day
• will be working on election day
• are a silent elector
• are a person with a disability
• believe that attending a voting centre on election day will place your personal safety or the safety of your family at risk.

You may be asked why you are voting early.

Early voting days and times are:

• Saturday: 9am to 6pm
• Monday to Wednesday: 8:30am to 5:30pm
• Thursday: 8:30am to 8pm
• Friday: 8:30am to 6pm

There is no voting on Sunday.

One aspect you should note. There is no absentee voting available at NSW council elections.

You must vote at a venue in your enrolled council area (or ward if you live in a divided council area). You cannot vote at a venue in another area. Use the address lookup tool to find your council or ward.

HOW TO VOTE

When completing your ballot paper, you must choose between voting above the line or below the line.

Above the line

You must place a number ‘1’ in one of the group voting squares above the thick horizontal line on the ballot paper. By doing this, you are voting for that whole group of candidates in the order they are listed below that square, starting from the top. This is all you need to do. 

You can show more choices if you want, starting with the number 2 above the line. 

If you vote above the line, do not put numbers in any squares below the line.

Below the line

You can vote below the line if: 

• you want to vote for candidates within a group in the order of your choice
• you want to vote for candidates from different groups in the order of your choice
• you want to vote for ungrouped candidates in the order of your choice
• you want to vote for a mixture of grouped and ungrouped candidates.

To vote, you must place at least the number of preferences indicated in the ‘Directions for Voting’ on the ballot paper. This will be at least half the number to be elected (rounded up).

For example:

• if there are three to be elected, you must vote for at least two candidates
• if there are nine to be elected, you must vote for at least five candidates

In Lismore, we vote for 10 councillors, so you must vote for at least 5 candidates below the line.

You may then continue to number more candidates if you wish.

Your first preference is indicated by placing a ‘1’ in the square next to the candidate of your choice, your second preference a ‘2’, your third preference a ‘3’, and so on.

If you vote below the line, do not put numbers in any squares above the line.

You can watch a video of how to vote below.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/bqLM7RI0grs?showinfo=0

If you are searching for information on the Lismore candidates, you can go to the Meet Your Candidates button on the Lismore App and/or go to Podcasts to listen to all five Mayoral candidates chats on Talking Lismore. Big Rob is the latest inclusion for his mayoral talk.