How the election works
When and where to vote, what the two houses do, what the state looks after (and what Canberra does), how preferential voting is counted, and what your first preference does for a candidate.
When and where to vote
Voting is compulsory for everyone enrolled. You can vote early in person, on election day, or by post.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Tuesday 17 November, 10 am to 4 pm | Low-sensory voting at one site in each district, for voters who are neurodivergent or have sensory needs, and their carers and support workers. |
| Wednesday 18 to Friday 27 November, 9 am to 6 pm | Early voting. You don't need a reason to vote early. Closed Sunday 22 November. |
| From Wednesday 18 November | Telephone voting, for voters who are blind, have low vision or have a motor impairment and need help to vote. |
| Wednesday 25 November, 6 pm | Postal vote applications close. |
| Saturday 28 November, 8 am to 6 pm | Election day. Postal votes must be posted, or dropped at a voting centre in Victoria, before 6 pm. |
| Friday 4 December | Last day for postal votes to reach the VEC. |
Where to vote
- Find early and election day voting centres, with access guides, in the VEC's venue locator, or see the list of voting locations.
- On election day you can vote at any voting centre in Victoria, not only in your own district.
- Interstate: vote by post, or in person at another state or territory electoral commission's head office from 18 to 27 November in business hours. They're closed on election day.
- Overseas: vote by post, have your ballot papers emailed to you, or vote at one of the VEC's venues in 30 cities. See away from Victoria.
Voting by post
Anyone can apply to vote by post, until 6 pm on Wednesday 25 November. Apply on the VEC website, or get a paper form from an Australia Post office in Victoria. Only the VEC or Australia Post can give you an application: candidates and parties aren't allowed to send them. You fill in your ballot papers with a witness present, without showing them your vote.
What to bring
At the voting centre, staff ask your name and address and whether you've already voted, then mark you off the roll. If you missed the enrolment deadline (8 pm on 3 November), you can still enrol and vote at any early or election day voting centre: tell a staff member, and bring a driver licence or learner permit, an Australian passport, or a recent electricity bill or council rates notice showing your name and address.
Source: VEC, 2026 state election and its voting options. Times and places can change: check the VEC before you go. Where anything here differs from the VEC, the VEC is right.
Lower house and upper house
Victoria's Parliament has two houses, and on Saturday 28 November you vote for both: a small ballot paper for the lower house and a large one for the upper house. Every seat in both houses is up for election.
Legislative Assembly (lower house)
- 88 members, one for each district. Districts are drawn to have similar numbers of voters.
- The party or coalition with a majority here (45 seats or more) forms government, and its leader becomes Premier.
- Most laws, and the state budget, start here.
Legislative Council (upper house)
- 40 members: five from each of eight regions. Each region is made up of 11 lower house districts.
- It's a house of review: bills passed by the Assembly also have to pass the Council to become law. The government often doesn't have a majority here, so it has to negotiate with other parties and independents.
- Because each region elects five members roughly in proportion to its votes, smaller parties and independents win seats here more often than in the lower house.
Members of both houses serve fixed four-year terms.
State and federal responsibilities
This election chooses Victoria's Parliament, not the federal one in Canberra. The Australian Constitution lists what the federal Parliament can make laws about; most other things are left to the states. In practice many areas are shared, with Canberra paying for part of a service the state runs.
| Mainly the state (Victoria) | Mainly federal (Australia) | Shared |
|---|---|---|
| Public hospitals and ambulances Government schools and TAFE Police, courts and prisons Trains, trams, buses and major roads Planning and housing rules Child protection Stamp duty, land tax and payroll tax |
Defence and foreign affairs Immigration and citizenship Income tax and GST Medicare and the PBS Pensions, Centrelink and the NDIS Phones, internet and broadcasting Trade, currency and banking |
Hospitals (Canberra funds part) Schools (both fund them) Major infrastructure Environment and water Disability and aged care services |
Local councils are a third level, set up under state law. They look after things like bins, local roads, parks, libraries and most planning permits. Council elections are separate from this one.
How preferential voting works
You don't just pick one candidate: you number them in the order you prefer them. If your first choice can't win, your vote moves to your next choice, so it still counts.
Lower house ballot: number every box
Write 1 next to your first choice, 2 next to your second, and so on until every box has a number. The votes are counted like this:
- Everyone's first preferences are counted.
- If a candidate has more than half the formal votes (50% plus one), they win.
- If not, the candidate with the fewest votes is excluded, and each of their ballot papers moves to the next candidate numbered on it.
- This repeats until one candidate has more than half.
For 2026 the VEC will complete a full distribution of preferences in all 88 districts, so the final two-candidate count is published for every seat.
Upper house ballot: number at least 5 boxes
The upper house ballot has a line across it. Vote in one of two ways:
- Above the line: number at least 5 boxes for parties or groups, in your order of choice. Your preferences go to each group's candidates in the order the group listed them.
- Below the line: number at least 5 individual candidates in your order of choice. You decide the order of every candidate yourself.
You can keep numbering past 5 if you like. Use one or the other: don't write numbers both above and below the line.
New for 2026: group voting tickets have been removed. Under them, if you voted 1 above the line, the party decided where your preferences went next. Now your preferences go only where you number them.
Because each region elects five members, a candidate doesn't need half the votes. They need a quota: just over one sixth (about 16.7%) of the formal votes. Anyone who reaches a quota is elected, and the votes they didn't need (their surplus) pass to those voters' next preferences at a reduced value. Then the lowest candidates are excluded one at a time and their votes passed on, until all five seats are filled.
To try it with your own district's candidates, make your own how-to-vote card.
Step-by-step instructions for both ballot papers are on the VEC website. Voting is compulsory for everyone enrolled.
What your first preference does for a candidate
Numbering a candidate 1 doesn't weaken your later preferences: your vote only moves on if your first choice is excluded (or, in the upper house, has more votes than they need). But the first preference matters to the candidate in a few ways.
- It counts for them first, at full value. They keep your vote for the whole count unless they're excluded.
- Public funding. If a candidate gets at least 4% of the first preference votes, or is elected, the state pays an amount for every first preference vote they received: to their party, or to the candidate if they're an independent. For the 2026 election it's $7.70 per first preference in the lower house and $3.84 in the upper house (VEC rates). Later preferences earn nothing.
- Their deposit back. Candidates pay a deposit to nominate, refunded if they're elected or get at least 4% of the first preference votes.
- A visible measure of support. First preferences (the "primary vote") are the first results counted on election night and the figure most often reported. A candidate's primary vote shows how much support they have in their own right.
The rate is the same for every candidate. Your Ballot doesn't recommend how to number your ballot.
Sources: VEC, Electoral Act amendments 2026; VEC, funding; Parliament of Victoria. Where anything here differs from the VEC, the VEC is right.