How to nominate

You must be correctly enrolled to vote in Victoria to become a candidate. You don’t need to live in the district you are nominating for but your nomination must be supported by 6 people who are enrolled there.

You cannot nominate if you:

• are not enrolled
• are a judge of a court of Victoria
• have been convicted or found guilty of an offence with a prison term of 5 years or more in a Victorian or federal court
• are an undischarged bankrupt
• are a member of either House of the Commonwealth Parliament.

You can stand for election, but can't take office without resigning first if you are:

• a local government councillor
• a Victorian Public Service employee
• an Australian Public Service employee.

You should check your workplace’s policies about standing for election and campaigning while in your role. Some organisations may ask you to take leave from your position while you are campaigning. 

If you have dual citizenship, you are eligible to nominate.

If you're not sure if you're eligible to nominate, seek independent legal advice.

Visit Candidate Helper to start your nomination form.

1. Select 'Start a new form'.
2. Select the relevant election (i.e. 'Prahran District').
3. Click on 'Nomination form'.

In the nomination form, fill in your details exactly as they appear on the roll:

• your full name
• your date of birth
• your enrolled address
• your postal address (if it's different to your enrolled address).

Please note that rural addresses must include any roadside mailbox (RMB) or roadside delivery (RSD) numbers.

This needs to match your enrolment record. Check your enrolment before you get started to make sure your details match.

You will also need to supply your preferred contact details. We will use this to contact you throughout the election. This information is for official use only and will not be available on our website.

Confirm the way your name will appear on the ballot paper.

Ballot paper names must appear with your family name in capitals followed by a comma, and your given name(s) in sentence case. For example:

• ATKIN, Tim
• NGUYEN, Van Nam
• HOPKINS–WELLS, Anna

You then must provide an email address and at least one phone number, which will be published on this website. You cannot nominate without these contact details. 

You can give us the contact details of your campaign manager or create a dedicated campaign phone number and email address. You can also list your own phone number and email address but please remember these details will be publicly available on this website until election day.

You must also give us the details of a contact person we can call if there are any complaints or enquiries about your campaign signage. This person must be available and ready to respond to issues during the busy periods of the by-election. This includes at short notice and outside of business hours.

You can provide the same contact details each time Candidate Helper asks for them.

Print and sign your nomination form when you have finished entering your details.

Select ‘Print form’, then select 'Nomination form' to generate and print your nomination form.

You will need a program that can read PDFs to open this file. You can download Adobe Reader, Foxit, or other free PDF readers to access this file. 

Please take note of the reference number in the top right-hand corner of the form.

You need at least 6 people to support your nomination. These people are your nominators.

Your nominators must be enrolled to vote in the district you are nominating for.

Ask your nominators to record their details on your nomination form. We'll check these details against the electoral roll when you submit your nomination.

Collect their:

• full name (as shown on the electoral roll)
• address where they are enrolled to vote
• date of birth
• signature.

It's a good idea to collect more than 6 nominators, just in case we cannot find some of them on the electoral roll when you nominate.

To finalise your nomination, make an appointment at the election office to submit your form in person.

Make sure you bring:

• your printed and signed nomination form
• details of your nominators
• a $350 deposit.

Your deposit must be either cash or a bank cheque made payable to 'Victorian Electoral Commission'.

We cannot accept personal cheques, credit or debit card payments, or money orders.