The Tasmanian Electoral Commission announced 481 nominating candidates on Tuesday, with 160 of those nominating for the nine councils within the state’s North and North-East.

This figure is up from 148 in the 2014 elections, with 97 of those new candidates, an increase electoral analyst Dr Kevin Bonham puts down to the now four-year wait between elections.

“Firstly the quota is lower, and while that is against a stronger field than under the old half-in half-out system, it is probably easier now for a new candidate who is distinctive to win than it used to be,” he said.

Following the increased nomination numbers, Tasmanian electoral commissioner Andrew Hawkey said the commission would strongly welcome all councils to over 60 per cent of their votes.

Local Government Association of Tasmania chief executive Dr Katrena Stephenson, said smaller councils – like many of those in the North and North-West – generally returned a higher percentage of their votes.

The 2014 vote return over the nine council areas in the region was 63.92 per cent, higher than the state figure.

“The average response rate for 2014 was 54.58 per cent, but this includes high response rates of over 80 per cent on King and Flinders islands, compared to a response rate in Launceston of 52.88 per cent,” she said. 

Dr Bonham agrees, but added he didn’t expect much to change this year.

“As a general rule the smaller councils by population tend to have the highest engagement rates by reason of a higher chance of knowing the candidates personally, a higher chance of being impacted by council decisions and also a less transient population,” he said.

“I wouldn't expect drastic changes in turnout compared to 2014.

“It has not varied much from year to year in the past.”

TEC is well aware of that trend, according to commissioner Andrew Hawkey, but they would love to see an increase.

“In general the lower the elector numbers, the higher the turnout,” he said.

“Election after election that trend seems to hold up.”

Electors should look out for their postal packs in the mail and to return them as quickly as they can, he added, citing changes to the postal service since 2014.

“We’re always looking to have as many people vote as we can,” he said.

“We don’t want to miss out on anybody having their vote counted.”

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