Postal voting has drawn a higher turnout of voters for Local Government elections according to figures recently released by Western Australian Local Government Department for the May 2003 election. The statewide voter turnout of 27 per cent was significantly higher than 15.5 per cent when in person voting was used.
Voting is not compulsory for Council elections in Western Australia.
Casting of informal votes was also less likely, with postal voting as the rate dropped to less than one tenth of one per cent, compared to 2 per cent for in person voting.
Of the 116 contested Local Government elections held across the state, 55 were postal elections, 60 were in person elections and one was run by the WA Electoral Commission as an in person vote. Out of 1.2 million people eligible to vote at the elections, 309,433 cast their ballots.
Overall voter turnout was lower than the 2001 elections and in response the Western Australian Local Government Association is developing and implementing strategies to improve the result.
