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Campaigning

Campaigners are a familiar sight outside voting centres. They might distribute how-to-vote cards and engage with voters as they go to cast their vote. Campaigners are often:

  • volunteer supporters
  • party officials
  • lobbyists
  • members of interest groups
  • a candidate’s family member or friend
  • a candidate themselves.

You can campaign at any time, even before the official start of a state election period. However, there are important things all campaigners need to understand before the voting period begins. These include:

  • what campaigners can expect at election venues
  • expected standards of campaigner behaviour
  • prohibited actions while canvassing
  • safety considerations and how to plan ahead
  • escalation pathways at VEC-operated venues. 

It's each campaigner’s responsibility to be informed about canvassing and signage rules at election venues. Please also note that all non-electoral laws still apply, such as defamation laws.

Read our new campaigner handbook. It contains detailed information to help you prepare to campaign.

Quick guide for campaigners

To prepare for the voting period, you should: 

  1. Read the Campaigner handbook and this webpage before the voting period.
  2. Understand the canvassing and signage rules which apply within the 6 metre, 100 metre and 400 metre zones from election venues.
  3. Only distribute/hand out authorised electoral material. 
  4. Follow all relevant legal requirements.
  5. Prepare for campaigning. Bring your own food, drinks and appropriate clothing (like a hat or coat).
  6. Be responsible for your own needs. Access to toilets, shelter and shade at venues is not guaranteed.
  7. Attend the campaigner briefings held by VEC officials at voting venues. If you can’t make this session, ask an official if you have any questions.
  8. Be careful not to block voters’ access to the venue.
  9. Be alert near carparks, roads, kerbs and steps.
  10. Remove all your signs, stakes, ties, tape and rubbish and take them with you when you leave.

Expected campaigner behaviour

Fair, free and safe access for all election participants is essential. 

We expect all participants to treat each other with courtesy, respect and civility when campaigning outside voting centres. It’s a shared responsibility among all participants and election officials to build and maintain these relationships.

Recommendations for campaigners by campaigners

As part of a facilitated consultation workshop conducted in May 2026, members of registered political parties developed a voluntary set of guidelines for acceptable campaigner behaviour.

This group made 7 recommendations committing to:

  • respecting voters’ rights
  • respecting the role and views of all campaigners
  • respecting the duties and role of VEC staff
  • understanding legal obligations and accepting accountability
  • rejecting threatening and intimidating behaviour
  • considering campaigner numbers at voting centres
  • fostering a positive experience for all

The full list of recommendations is in the campaigner handbook.

Authorisation of electoral material

All election material must be authorised. Learn about authorisation requirements for state elections

How-to-vote cards (digital or printed, registered or unregistered) are regulated separately and have different requirements. They must contain the name and address of the person who authorised the HTVC, as well as the name and address of the printer or publisher.

Read more about how-to-vote cards

Voting centre signage limits

There is a limit on the size and number of signs candidates and registered political parties can display within 100 metres of the designated entrance to a voting centre.

No other signs related to the election may be displayed in this zone, other than official VEC signs. Interest groups are not permitted to display signs within 100 metres of the designated entrance.

Size limit

Signs must not be bigger than 600 mm x 900 mm.

Quantity limits

Independent candidates cannot have more than 2 signs.

Registered political parties can have up to:

  • 2 signs for an endorsed Legislative Assembly (lower house) district election candidate
  • 2 signs in total between all endorsed Legislative Council (upper house) region election candidates
  • 2 signs for the political party.

It’s up to each candidate or registered political party to decide how their signs are used. For example, the contents may be the same across all signs.

Regulating signs

An election manager or election official can remove a sign that does not meet the rules. They will try to contact the person responsible and ask them to remove it. If we cannot reach this contact person, voting centre staff may remove the signs themselves. 

Mobile billboards are not allowed within 100 metres of the designated entrance to a voting centre or early voting centre. A mobile billboard includes:

  • vinyl-wrapped or painted vehicles
  • signs that can be worn by a person or attached to a vehicle.

We cannot regulate the number, placement or size of signs beyond 100 metres of a voting centre. You can check:

How to campaign safely

State election 2026: Campaigning

Campaigners play an important role in Victorian state elections. Learn how to campaign safely outside voting centres, as well as the rules for campaigners and electoral material for the 2026 Victorian state election.
Video Transcript

Campaigners play an important role in Victorian elections. If you are campaigning outside a voting centre, there are rules you must follow to make sure everyone can participate fairly and safely in our democracy, including what you can and can't do within 6 m, 100 m, and 400 m of the designated entrance to a voting centre.

Designated entrances are marked with an official VEC sign, and some voting centres may have more than one inside the voting centre and within 6 m of an entrance. You can't canvas for votes, run exit polls, or display any campaign signs.  Between 6 and 100 m of the entrance is the limited sign zone where there are limits on the number and size of signs that can be displayed by candidates and registered political parties in relation to the election. As always, signs must also be correctly authorised.

Mobile billboards aren't permitted at all within the limited sign zone.

Election officials can remove a sign if it doesn't comply with the requirements.

Check the VEC website and the campaigner handbook for more information to ensure your signs are compliant.

If you are handing out how to vote cards on election day, you can only distribute registered how to vote cards within 400 metres of a designated entrance to a voting centre. While how to vote cards  handed out during early voting don't need to be registered, all how to vote cards are electoral material and must be correctly authorised.

Special arrangements will be made for mobile voting centres to ensure eligible voters can access registered how to vote cards.

All campaigners have the right to campaign fairly and safely and all voters have the right to vote freely and safely. If you're feeling intimidated or threatened, tell an election official straight away or make a complaint via the VEC website.

Some voting centres may be close to busy roads or far from public amenities. While we will make every attempt to secure sites with amenities that you along with VEC staff can use, if you're campaigning all day, plan ahead as we can't guarantee amenities at voting centres. Always stay aware of your surroundings and remember to look after yourself and others. The VEC is responsible for the safety of everyone visiting a voting centre, including our staff, voters, and campaigners. We encourage you to register with us and get a safety briefing from an election official when you arrive to campaign outside a voting centre.

Help us keep a safe and respectful space outside voting centres so all Victorians can actively participate in their democracy.

Election officials will regularly check that everyone is following the rules.

For more information, go to vec.vic.gav.au and download the campaigner handbook.

 

Visitor registration form

We encourage anyone who will be attending any voting centre during the election period to complete our visitor registration form. This is part of how we will make sure that site visitors and our staff are safe while at a voting centre.

Visitors can include:

  • campaigners
  • contractors
  • media
  • election observers.

Voters do not need to register as visitors.

Our health, safety and wellbeing team may access the information you provide in this form in the event of an emergency or serious incident. We also may use the emergency contact details you provide if there is an emergency or incident at the site you’re visiting.

We won’t access this information for any other purposes, and we won’t store any personal information on site. There’s more privacy information in the form.

Register as a visitor

You can also scan the QR code at our election venues to access the form.