February 27, 2023
Toowoomba Regional Council will apply to have the March 2024 local government election conducted by postal ballot.
Cr Geoff McDonald said Council supported postal voting because of the large size of the region.
“Since COVID, residents’ habits have changed and people are much more used to doing things like this remotely,” Cr McDonald said.
“Considering the size of the region and the large amount of polling booths required for the election, we think it would be more appropriate to have postal votes for the community.
“As well as there being less resources required for all of the individual polling booths, a postal vote would be the most cost-effective option for our region.”
Under Section 45 of the Local Government Electoral Act 2011, a council can apply before May 1 in the year preceding the election to the Minister for Local Government for a poll to be conducted only by postal ballot.
The decision whether the postal vote will go ahead rests with the Minister.
The TRC applied to have a postal ballot for the 2020 election, but this application was knocked back.
Toowoomba previously had postal voting but returned to polling booths for the 2016 election.
