Council elections

Council-enrolments for occupiers and corporations expire before the next local government general election. If you want to continue to vote, you must apply to enrol again before the next local council election (2028). We will send you an invitation when it is time to renew your enrolment. 

Owner ratepayers’ enrolment does not expire, but you can apply to resign your enrolment.

If you are a Council-enrolled voter and you don’t want to vote for that property anymore, you can apply to resign your enrolment by contacting us on phone 03 9209 6777.

If you believe that having your address shown on a voters’ roll could put your personal safety or your family's safety at risk, you can apply to be a silent voter.  

This means that you are still required to vote, but the address where you live is not shown on the voters' roll. 

As a State-enrolled voter, contact the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) regarding enrolling as a silent voter. If you are already a silent voter on the state electoral roll, you will automatically be made a silent voter on the council voters' roll if the VEC can identify and match your records. 

As a council-enrolled voter, you can complete a silent voter application directly with us.  

Download the form: Silent voter request (PDF 60KB)

All sections of the form along with a signed statutory declaration must be completed in order for the form to be considered.  

Forms MUST be signed in person and cannot have a typed name. 

Signed forms must be returned to Council before the day the roll closes.  

There are a number of ways you can return the completed form to us: 

• post it to us addressed to: The City of Port Phillip, Private Bag No3, St Kilda Vic 3182
• drop it to us in-person at St Kilda Town Hall, ASSIST Service Counter, 99a Carlisle Street, St Kilda during business hours

You must enrol and vote if you:

• are 18 years or older
• are an Australian citizen
• have lived at your address in the Port Phillip Council for longer than one month.

Check your state-enrolment details on the VEC website: Enrolment | Victorian Electoral Commission (vec.vic.gov.au)

Some ratepayers can apply to become council-enrolled voters in Port Phillip Council if they are:

• a property owner, occupier or represent a corporation
• 18 or older
• not a State-enrolled voter within the Port Phillip Council area.

These are known as council-enrolled voters. The rules for council-enrolled voters have changed ahead of the 2024 council elections. These changes are explained below. You can also find this on the VEC website Enrolling for local council elections | Victorian Electoral Commission (vec.vic.gov.au)

Owner ratepayers

You can apply to enrol in Port Phillip Council if you:

• own property and pay rates in the council area
• are 18 or older
• are not a state-enrolled voter who lives in Port Phillip Council.

This includes:

• Australian citizens who own a property in Port Phillip Council but do not live in the area (for example an investment or a holiday home)
• non-citizens over 18 who own a property and live in Port Phillip Council.

Up to 2 ratepayers can apply to enrol per property, but each person only gets one vote.

Occupier ratepayers

You can apply to enrol in Port Phillip Council if you:

• pay rates for a property that you occupy but do not own
• are 18 or older
• are not a state-enrolled voter.

Note that council may request proof
of occupancy and liability for council rates.

Up to 2 people per property can apply to enrol, but each person only gets one vote.

Corporations

You can apply to enrol to vote on behalf of a corporation if you:

• are a director or company secretary of a corporation that pays rates (either as an owner or an occupier) in the council area
• have consented to being appointed as the corporation’s representative
• are not already a state-enrolled voter or council-enrolled voter for the same council.

Only one person can apply to enrol as the corporation’s representative.

Enrolments for the 2024 Council Election closed at 4pm Wednesday 7 August.

If you speak a language other than English, you can watch information sessions on how to enrol to vote for the upcoming local council elections.

The VEC have created videos in the following languages:

• Arabic
• Mandarin
• Vietnamese
• Cantonese

Visit How to Enrol for more languages.

City of Port Phillip is divided into nine wards with one councillor per ward.

The ward boundaries have been designed to ensure that each ward contains approximately the same number of voters.  Find out more about the Port Phillip electoral structure review on the VEC website.

The ward names are: 

• Albert Park Ward
• Alma Ward
• Balaclava Ward
• Elwood Ward
• Lakeside Ward
• Montague Ward
• Port Melbourne Ward
• South Melbourne Ward
• St Kilda Ward

Enter your address into Near me to see which ward you will be located in. 

 In a council by-election, people vote to elect a new councillor.

A by-election may be held if:

• a councillor resigns or cannot complete their term in a single-councillor ward; and
• there are more than six months before the next general council election.

If you enrolled for the local council elections in 2024, you will remain enrolled for any council by-elections up until 2028. It will be compulsory for you to vote. 

The Local Government Act 2020 requires all candidates who nominate in council elections to submit an election campaign donation return to the Chief Executive Officer within 40 days after election day. 

The election campaign donation return must detail any gifts, goods or services worth $500 or more received during the donation period for use in connection with their election campaign. This applies to all candidates, whether elected or not, and whether they received campaign donations or not.

Within 14 days after the deadline of submission of Campaign Donation Returns by candidates, summaries of each return lodged will be made available on Council’s website.

A summary of all election campaign donation returns is required to be made available on our website until the close of the roll for the next general election. 

The election campaign donation return summary for the 2024 City of Port Phillip Council elections is provided below:

Summary of 2024 election campaign donation returns  (PDF 99KB)

The Election Period (commonly known as Caretaker Period) is the period starting from the last day that nominations to be a candidate for a Council election can be received. It ends at 6 pm on election day.

During this period, Council business is conducted in accordance with the Election Period Policy (PDF 339 KB) to avoid the use of public resources in a way that may unduly affect the election result, and to minimise Councils making certain types of decisions that may unduly limit the decision-making ability of the incoming Council. 

The Election Period Policy ensures that all general elections of the City of Port Phillip are conducted in a manner that is ethical, fair and equitable and are publicly perceived as such.