Become a state election candidate
Recent High Court decision - Hopper & Anor v State of Victoria
This page, including linked files, is under review following a recent High Court decision affecting Victoria’s political finance laws.
The information on this page may be impacted by this decision and may not be accurate.
We'll make these updates as soon as we can.
Read our statement on this matter
Who can be a candidate
You can nominate as a state election candidate if you are enrolled to vote in Victoria.
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 nominate for election, but cannot take office without resigning first if you are:
- a local government councillor
- a Victorian Public Service employee
- an Australian Public Service employee.
Dual citizenship does not disqualify your from nominating.
If you are not sure if you are eligible to nominate, seek independent legal advice.
For detailed information about the nomination process, refer to the candidate handbook.
Getting support for your nomination
If you are a registered political party candidate, your nomination must be lodged by the registered officer of the party.
If you are an independent candidate, you need to get support for your nomination by:
- 6 people if you are standing for the lower house (district)
- 50 people if you are standing for the upper house (region).
The people who support your nomination must be correctly enrolled at an address within that district or region.
Cost of nominating
Your nomination must be accompanied by a deposit of $350.
Bring your deposit in cash or bank cheque to your nomination appointment with your hard copy nomination forms. We cannot accept credit or debit card payments.
Your deposit will be refunded if you:
- are elected
- receive at least 4% of first preference votes
- retire before the close of nominations.
Campaigning rules
There are several rules about campaigning. These include rules about authorising electoral material, distributing how-to-vote cards and the signage limits outside voting centres.
Ballot paper order
The order of candidates and groups on state election ballot papers is decided by computerised random draws. We do this random draw for each district and region after the nominations period ends.
Ballot draws are public events that anyone can attend, including candidates.
The ballot draw for each district (lower house) election is a single computerised random draw. The ballot draw for each region (upper house) election is drawn randomly in up to 3 parts:
- the order of groups above the line
- the order of candidates within a group, if a group did not specify the order for their candidates to be listed
- the order of ungrouped candidates.
For a state by-election, we only conduct one ballot draw for the district. It is still a single computerised random draw.
Our computerised draw software has been independently audited and certified. It includes a random number generator (RNG), which uses a cryptographically secure algorithm to create a sequence of numbers that cannot be predicted.
The RNG has passed several statistical tests including:
- Empirical tests
- Diehard tests
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) tests.
View the software component that generates the random order for the ballot.
Download the audit report for the ballot draw software.
In the unlikely event we cannot hold a computerised ballot draw, we can do a manual ballot draw instead. This involves randomly drawing sequential numbered balls from a lottery barrel to determine the position of candidates or groups on the ballot paper.
How-to-vote cards
A how-to-vote card (HTVC) shows how someone wants voters to fill out their ballot paper. Anyone can apply to register a HTVC, including, candidates, parties, political interest groups and members of the public. All voters can choose if they want to follow a HTVC or not.
HTVCs handed out within 400 metres of a voting centre on election day must be registered with us. This also applies to HTVCs distributed by our mobile voting teams.
HTVCs distributed during the early voting period do not need to be registered. All HTVCs (online or printed, registered or unregistered) must be authorised. They must show who approved them, and the name and address of the business that printed or published them.
Learn more about HTVC registration.
Getting a copy of the roll
Candidates can access a free electronic copy of the electoral roll. Electoral roll data may only be used for purposes connected to your election campaign and monitoring the accuracy of information on the roll. Some of the permitted uses are:
- to send electoral material
- for door-knocking campaigns
- mail-merging letters.
We do not give out:
- email addresses
- phone numbers
- details of silent electors.
Misuse of roll data is a serious offence. There are strict penalties for misusing the roll.
Annual returns
Registered political parties, independent candidates, and independent elected members are required to submit an annual return to report on political expenditure. Annual returns are due on 20 October each year.