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Council elections – will you be eligible to vote?Latrobe City Council has urged ratepayers, particularly those who are not Australian citizens, to establish whether they will be eligible to vote in the November local government elections. By Latrobe City Council - 11th August 2005 - Back to News to the Local Government Act recently introduced, affect several aspects of existing enrolment entitlements, particularly in respect to non-Australian citizens, and residents who own property in several council wards.
Latrobe City’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Buckley, said Latrobe City was making a concerted effort to alert residents and ratepayers to the changes in the lead-up to council elections.
"We want to make it very clear to our community what the changes are, and who is affected, so there are no ‘surprises’ further down the track.
"There are actions some ratepayers will need to take to ensure they are not disenfranchised," Mr Buckley added.
Mr Buckley said that residents who hold entitlement to vote in State and Federal elections and who are correctly enrolled with the Victorian Electoral Commission, will automatically receive their postal ballot papers prior to the election.
"However, a number of ratepayers who don’t hold Australian Citizenship, yet are eligible to vote in local government elections, may find that although they have received ballot papers for Council elections in the past; on this occasion they are unable to vote unless they enrol on the CEO’s list.
"This is because the State Government has recently changed the requirements under the Act. People falling into the category I’ve just outlined, now need to apply for enrolment with their local Council before each and every local government election to be able to vote," Mr Buckley said.
"Almost ten-percent of Latrobe residents are not Australian citizens, and a large number of these, as ratepayers, are likely to be eligible to have their say on who should represent them on Council. If they are ratepayers, are not on the roll and would like to vote, they will need to apply before 4pm Friday 30 September," Mr Buckley added.
Application forms for enrolment are available at Latrobe City service centres in Moe, Morwell and Traralgon.
Ratepayers wishing to establish their current status on the electoral roll for the November local government election, can contact Neil Cooper at Latrobe City, telephone 1300 367 700.
The legislative changes also affect the voting entitlements of people who own property in several wards. Previously if an elector lived in one ward of the municipality and owned property in another ward of the municipality they were entitled to a vote in each ward. Changes to the Act mean that electors will now only have one vote in a municipality.
Changes to the Act also affect the number of entitlements for any one rateable property on the CEO’s list. In the past, the first two owners of a property as shown on the council records were automatically entitled to be enrolled and other owners and occupiers could apply to be enrolled. There must now be no more than two voting entitlements for any one rateable property, but the legislation allows for the owners to decide which two are to appear on the roll.
The entitlements of multiple owners of a property whose names appear on the State or Federal electoral roll, are not altered.
Other changes to entitlement affect occupiers who receive rate notices, corporations, and owners who do not live within the municipality.
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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