It won't be long before Tasmanians are sending in their votes for their next local council with elections coming up in October.
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There will be substantial changes to the local government elections this year with voting now compulsory.
In the 2018 election, out of the 47,309 City of Launceston enrolled electors, 25,295 ballots were returned.
Launceston City voting turnout was five per cent below the state average with a 53.47 per cent turn out compared to 58.72 per cent statewide.
Less than 500 ballot papers were rejected.
Local government elections are postal-vote only and will open on Monday, October 3 and close on Tuesday, October 25.
Like other Parliamentary elections, the fine for not voting is $34.60 which increases if not paid.
Marking another change this year, voters will be required to fill out preferences from one to five rather than from one to 12 - though voters can still vote up to 12 if they wish.
This was introduced to reduce the number of informal ballot papers at the election, ultimately increasing the number or ballot papers included in the count.
Local Government Association Tasmania chief officer Dion Lester said the change would simplify the process for voters and aligns formal vote requirements with state elections.
"The local government sector did not raise any significant concerns with this proposal when first mooted as part of the Review of the Local Government Act in 2019," he said about support for these changes.
In the 2018 local government elections, City of Launceston councillors received a small margin of votes compared to frontrunners Albert van Zetten and Janie Finlay - neither of whom will be running in the 2022 election.
The compulsory voting came into effect on June 1, 2022 after Local Government minister Nic Street tabled a bill earlier in May.
The government was criticised during debate for attempting to rush the compulsory voting bill through Parliament.
Mr Street was also criticised in May for not consulting with Tasmanian councils and the broader community ahead of the introduction of legislation to enforce compulsory voting in local government elections.
The main concern was the government was also in the middle of the Local Government Board Review into the Future of Local Government in Tasmania.
The interim report of this was released on July 21 with stage two of the review underway. Tasmanian councils were able to send in their input during stage one.
In stage two will look at how feedback from Tasmanian councils as well as the public could lead to better services being delivered to communities.
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