Become a state election candidate
There have been changes to Victoria's electoral laws following recent amendments to the Electoral Act 2002. For further information, see our page about the 2026 Electoral Act amendments. We are in the process of updating our website.
On this page:
- 2026 state election
- What's different in 2026
- Political donation laws
- Who can be a candidate
- How to nominate
- Getting support for your nomination
- Cost of nominating
- When can I start campaigning?
- Campaigning rules
- Ballot paper order
- How-to-vote cards
- Getting a copy of the roll
- Annual returns
2026 state election
The 2026 state election is on Saturday 28 November.
Candidate nominations:
- open on Wednesday 4 November
- close at 12 noon on Monday 9 November for all candidates
The following documents will be available closer to the nomination period:
- candidate handbooks
- candidate kits
- scrutineer handbook
- campaigner handbook.
The candidate kit includes nomination forms and other important documents.
You can also pick up hard copies of this kit at an election office from Wednesday 4 November.
Election offices will be co-located in election hubs for the 2026 state election.
What's different in 2026
There have been changes to the Electoral Act 2002 that all state election candidates should understand before nominating.
Some key changes are:
- the electoral roll closes one week earlier at 8 pm on Tuesday 3 November
- the nomination period is shorter, from Wednesday 4 to Monday 9 November
- the how-to-vote card registration period is longer, from Tuesday 10 to Friday 20 November
- the early voting period is shorter, from Wednesday 17 to Friday 27 November
- political parties can withdraw a candidate’s nomination before the close of nominations if they have disendorsed the candidate
- group voting tickets have been removed from Victoria’s Upper House voting system.
If you plan to nominate, especially as an independent candidate, make sure you’re prepared before nominations open on Wednesday 4 November.
Political donation laws
There are strict laws that regulate political donations in Victoria, including:
- who can make a political donation
- the maximum value of political donations
- when you must disclose political donations you make or receive
- a ban on foreign donations.
There have been recent updates to the political donation laws that all political participants should be aware of. Please read our 2026 political finance laws and political donations pages for the details of these changes.
Who can be a candidate
You must be enrolled in Victoria to be a state election candidate. You can nominate for any district or region election in Victoria.
District candidates stand for the Legislative Assembly, also called the lower house. Region candidates stand for the Legislative Council, also called the upper house.
You cannot nominate if you:
- aren’t enrolled to vote in Victoria
- 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 must resign before taking office if you are:
- a local government councillor
- a Victorian Public Service employee
- an Australian Public Service employee.
You can stand for election to the Victorian Parliament if you hold dual citizenship.
You should seek independent legal advice if you’re not sure if you are eligible to nominate.
Our candidate handbooks* have detailed information about the nomination process. We will be publishing the 2026 versions shortly.
*Recent changes to the Electoral Act 2002 mean some of our handbooks are under review. Some content may be out of date. We will publish updated versions reflecting the changes soon.
How to nominate
Independent candidates must nominate in person at the election office of the electorate they’re nominating in.
For Legislative Assembly (district/lower house) candidates, this will be the relevant district election office. For Legislative council (upper house) region candidates, this is any district election office within the relevant region.
Election offices will be co-located in election hubs for the 2026 state election.
Learn more about how to nominate
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.
When can I start campaigning
You can start campaigning at any time, even before you have officially nominated.
As soon as you publicly declare your plan to be a candidate, disclosure of political donations rules apply to you. These rules apply even if you don’t end up nominating.
A public declaration includes but isn’t limited to:
- posting on social media
- advertising in a newspaper
- an announcement in a townhall or public space.
Campaigning rules
There are several rules about campaigning, including about authorising electoral material, handing out how-to-vote cards, and how many signs you can put up outside voting centres.
You can start campaigning at any time, even before you have officially nominated.
Once you publicly declare you plan to be a candidate, you must comply with the disclosure of political donations rules. These rules apply even if you later decide not to nominate.
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 Legislative Assembly (lower house) district and Legislative Council (upper house) region election after the nominations period ends.
Ballot draws are public events that anyone can attend, including candidates.
The ballot draw for each district election is a single computerised random draw. The ballot draw for each region election is drawn randomly in 2 parts:
- the order of groups above the line
- the order of ungrouped candidates.
We only conduct one ballot draw for a state by-election, 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) is a printed guide that explains how a person or group wants you to fill out your ballot paper.
You must register your HTVCs with the election manager if you want:
- to hand them out on election day (Saturday 28 November) within 400 metres of a voting centre
- our mobile voting teams to carry them.
You don’t need to register how-to-vote cards to hand them out during the early voting period from Wednesday 18 to Friday 27 November.
All HTVCs must be properly authorised and contain the name and address of the person who authorised the HTVC, and the name and place of business of the printer or publisher.
Learn more about HTVC registration
Accessing the electoral roll
Candidates can ask to access a copy of the electoral roll. You may only use electoral roll data for reasons connected to your election campaign and monitoring the accuracy of information on the roll. Some of the permitted uses are:
- to send voters electoral material
- for door-knocking campaigns
- mail-merging letters.
We do not give out:
- email addresses
- phone numbers
- silent elector details.
Misuse of roll data is a serious offence. There are strict penalties for misusing the roll.
The close of roll for the 2026 state election is 8 pm on Tuesday 3 November. We will send candidates who have requested roll access a copy of the electoral roll through our secure file transfer method. We’ll share more information about accessing the roll closer to the nominations period.
Annual returns
Registered political parties, independent candidates, independent elected members and groups of independent Legislative Council region election candidates must submit an annual return to report on money received and costs incurred in a financial year. Annual returns are due on 20 October each year.
Learn more about annual returns
*Recent changes to the Electoral Act 2002 mean some of our handbooks are under review. Some content may be out of date. We will publish updated versions reflecting the changes soon.