Provisional results for the Cardinia and Casey council elections will be available between Wednesday 6 November and Tuesday 12 November.
According to the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) website, things which can affect the counting timeline include the number of vacancies in each ward, if results are counted by hand or by computer, how many people are enrolled in the council and how many candidates there are in each ward.
The VEC will officially declare the Casey results at 2pm on Friday 8 November, while the Cardinia results will be officially declared at 2pm on Monday 11 November.
The VEC will be officially declaring results across all councils on Friday 15 November.’
The VEC uses preferential counting in single-councillor wards and proportional counting in multi-councillor wards and unsubdivided councils.
Most preferential counting is done manually by hand, but sometimes, if deemed appropriate, it can be done by computer.
Preferential counting by computer means the VEC enters each voter’s preferences into a computer count application.
An example of where a computer count would be deemed appropriate for single-councillor elections is where there are many candidates in the election or ballot papers to be counted.
The election manager will advise candidates of the time and location of the declaration of results, which is a public event which anyone can attend including candidates, families and friends, community members, council staff, local media and other interested parties.
The election manager will announce the result of each election and declare the successful candidates elected.
The declaration will occur at least 4 hours after provisional results have been released.
Once the declaration has occurred, the results are final.
For more information, visit www.vec.vic.gov.au/voting/2024-local-council-elections
