City of Greater Geraldton council provide feedback on four-year election cycle and compulsory voting

Four-year election cycles and compulsory voting for local government polls are on the agenda at Tuesday’s council meeting, with the City of Greater Geraldton council weighing in on what future elections could look like.

The Western Australian Local Government Association is seeking feedback from councils and shires across the State for guidance on electoral reforms.

Currently, half the council positions are voted on every two years in non-compulsory elections.

WALGA is on the look-out for council advice on the possibility of voting on all council positions every four years, and feedback on compulsory voting.

Council members have been surveyed, with their feedback forming the executive recommendations the city will make to WALGA.

The majority of councillors supported the half spill two-year election cycle, citing continuity and knowledge retention of councillors and the capacity for candidate recruitment.

If sticking with the two-year cycle, most councillors surveyed supported voluntary voting.

If the election cycle changed to every four years, more councillors answered that they would support compulsory preferential voting. The reasons given were keeping voter engagement in a longer election cycle and maintaining a legitimate democracy.

These responses have been collated into a report, and at Tuesday’s meeting councillors will vote on whether to follow CEO Ross McKim’s recommendation to provide the report to WALGA.

The conversations started after Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley expressed support for a four-year election cycle in June 2025.

She brought up concerns of rising costs of elections and voter fatigue, which Geraldton residents can relate to after three elections last year.

For the past three City of Greater Geraldton elections in 2021, 2023 and 2025, there was a voter turnout of 27.09 per cent, 31.79 per cent and 31.96 per cent respectively.

The next local government election is due in October 2027.