No election will be held in Roxby as it is served by an administrator who performs the functions of a council.[3] An election for Coober Pedy is expected to be held for the first time since 2018, after the council was suspended in January 2019 and did not have an election in 2022.[4][5]
Electoral system
South Australian local elections use partial preferential voting (where voters must number at least the number of seats to be elected) and proportional representation.[6] Voting is conducted entirely via post, and unlike for state and federal elections, it is not compulsory to vote.[7][8]
Any person eligible to vote in state elections is automatically eligible to vote.[9] Non-Australian citizens, business owners, occupiers of property and non-resident owners of property are able to apply for enrolment in local elections.[9]
Beginning at the 2026 elections, all mayors will be directly-elected.[10] Prior to this, some mayors were directly-elected, while others were chosen by councillors.[11]
Donation disclosure forms
Following the 2022 elections, 45 council members (including three mayors) lost their positions as elected representatives after they did not submit a form about any gifts they received during their election campaigns.[12] The councillors losing their office meant by-elections were required, with ratepayers in each council paying the costs.[12][13]
In March 2023, the Local Government (Casual Vacancies) Amendment Bill 2023 was passed in the South Australian Parliament, which gave a 10-day extension to all affected council members.[14][15] This avoided the requirement for by-elections, and meant that decisions made by councillors following the most recent elections (but before the disclosure deadline) remained valid.[16][17]
^Gago, Gail (11 November 2010). "LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS". Hansard Search. Parliament of South Australia. Archived from the original on 28 December 2024. Retrieved 28 December 2024. Political parties in SA do not generally endorse candidates for council elections, although I understand that this year the Port Adelaide branch of the Greens is officially backing three candidates in various wards for the Port Adelaide election, but here in South Australia that generally is the exception rather than the rule, unlike in many other states where candidates are very strongly political party aligned.
^"Inquiry into Local Government Elections"(PDF). Local Government Association of Tasmania. February 2012. p. 6. Archived from the original(PDF) on 21 October 2024. Retrieved 28 December 2024. No, although six endorsed 'green' candidates at recent elections
