Daily updates

Early voting starts today

Early voting for the Local Government Elections commences today.

Over 132,000 Territorians are required to vote in the Local Government Elections.

Following the declaration of nominations, of the 54 elections, 35 elections will be contested (voters will be required to vote), 14 elections are uncontested (same number of candidates and vacancies, voters are not required to vote) and 5 elections partly failed (insufficient number of candidates for the number of vacancies, voters are not required to vote) with supplementary elections to be held at later date. Find out which elections are contested.

Key information

The NTEC will publish daily updates during the voting period, which provides voting statistics for each day of the early voting period. This information will also be available in a spreadsheet and attached to the daily summary. Voting data will be provided at close of voting for the previous day of voting. For example, voting data for the first day of early voting (11 August) will be available and published on the daily summary for 12 August.

Postal voting

Postal vote applications are still open. Voters who are not able to apply in person are encouraged to apply now for a postal vote to ensure they receive it on time.

Over 4,000 postal votes were sent out last week.

Postal vote applications close on 19 August (overseas) and 21 August (within Australia).

Early voting

Early voting is now available in Darwin, Casuarina, Palmerston, Darwin Rural (Coolalinga), Katherine and Alice Springs.

Early voting centres will be open from 8am to 5pm during weekdays and 8am to 3pm on Saturday 16 August 2025.

Early voting centres can issue ballot papers for all council elections.

Remote mobile voting

Remote mobile teams will provide voting services across the Territory across the two week early voting period. Thirteen remote mobile teams will be providing voting services to 93 remote communities.

View the remote mobile voting schedule by community.

Urban mobile voting

Urban mobile teams will be providing voting services in hospitals and correctional facilities.

View the urban mobile schedule by location.

Candidate information

The declaration of nominations and draw for order of candidate names on the ballot paper took place on 1 August 2025.

Find information about the candidates for each council election.

Election timetable

All postal voting despatch ceases - 21 August 2025
Early voting period 11 - 22 August 2025
Election Day - 23 August 2023
Deadline to receive returned postal votes - 12 noon, 5 September 2025
Count period from 6pm 23 August to 5 September 2025
Distribution of preferences from 12 noon 5 September 2025
Declaration of election results - 8 September
Campaign Disclosure returns due - 1 November 2025

Resources

First day of early voting

More than 3,800 Territorians cast their vote on the first day of early voting across the Territory.

Alice Springs Early Voting Centre (Alice Springs Town Council) – 555
Casuarina Early Voting Centre (Casuarina Library) – 1,013
Coolalinga Central Early Voting Centre (Coolalinga Central) – 696
Darwin Early Voting Centre (AANT Centre formerly known as Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 563
Katherine Central Early Voting Centre (Katherine Central Shopping Centre) – 425
Palmerston Early Voting Centre (Palmerston Recreation Centre) – 598

Mobile voting teams provided mobile voting services in communities in the Roper Gulf Regional Council including Weemol, Bulman and Mulggan and West Daly Regional Council communities of Woodycupaldiya and Emu Point.

Ten days of early voting remain before election day on Saturday 23 August.

Over 130,000 Territorians are required to vote in the 2025 Local Government Elections to determine their council representatives.

Key information

The NTEC will publish daily updates during the voting period, which provides voting statistics for each day of the early voting period. This information will also be available in a spreadsheet and attached to the daily summary. Voting data will be provided at close of voting for the previous day of voting.

Postal voting

At the end of voting on 11 August, around 4,280 postal votes had been issued.

Postal vote applications are still open and voters are encouraged to apply for a postal vote now if they are unable to attend a voting centre.

Early voting

Early voting continues with voting services available at the following times:

Tuesday 12 August to Friday 15 August – 8am to 5pm
Saturday 16 August – 8am to 3pm
Monday 18 August to Thursday 21 August – 8am to 5pm
Friday 22 August 2025 – 8am to 6pm

Remote mobile voting

Remote mobile voting services today will be provided in MacDonnell Regional Council, Roper Gulf Regional Council and West Arnhem Regional Council communities including, Kintore, Mataranka, Werenbun, Jodetluk, Ji-Malawa and Ji-Marda.

View details of amendments on when and where to vote.

Voter engagement

Total of 64,126 SMS and 45,934 emails sent to electors advising that voting for the 2025 Local Government Elections had started and how to find out where to vote or apply for a postal vote.

The NTEC will host a display booth at the Council of the Ageing (COTA) Seniors Expo in Alice Springs today 12 August from 10am to 2pm, providing information about the 2025 Local Government Elections and voter services.

Election timetable

All postal vote despatches cease – 21 August
Early voting period - 11 to 22 August
Election day – 23 August
Deadline to receive returned postal votes - 12 noon, 5 September

Resources

Territorians continue to early vote across the Territory.

The second day of early voting saw 3,467 Territorians cast their vote across the Territory, a decline of 333 from the first day of early voting.

Alice Springs Early Voting Centre (Alice Springs Town Council) – 425
Casuarina Early Voting Centre (Casuarina Library) – 907
Coolalinga Central Early Voting Centre (Coolalinga Central) – 592
Darwin Early Voting Centre (AANT Centre formerly known as Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 503
Katherine Central Early Voting Centre (Katherine Central Shopping Centre) – 386
Palmerston Early Voting Centre (Palmerston Recreation Centre) – 569

Nine days of early voting remain before election day on Saturday 23 August.

Over 130,000 Territorians are required to vote in the 2025 Local Government Elections to determine their council representatives.

Key information

The NTEC will publish daily updates during the voting period, which provides voting statistics for each day of the early voting period. This information will also be available in a spreadsheet and attached to the daily summary. Voting data will be provided at close of voting for the previous day of voting.

Postal voting

At the end of voting on 12 August, around 5,001 postal votes had been issued.

Postal vote applications are still open and voters are encouraged to apply for a postal vote now if they are unable to attend a voting centre.

In the 2021 Local Government Elections 7,961 postal votes were issued (noting the election was impacted by COVID-19).

Early voting

Early voting continues with voting services available at the following times:

Tuesday 12 August to Friday 15 August – 8am to 5pm
Saturday 16 August – 8am to 3pm
Monday 18 August to Thursday 21 August – 8am to 5pm
Friday 22 August 2025 – 8am to 6pm

Remote mobile voting

Today remote mobile voting services will be provided at the following communities:

McDonnell Regional Council - Haasts Bluff, Hermannsburg
Roper Gulf Regional Council – Manyallaluk, Barunga. Voting in Minyerri was scheduled for today but has been cancelled and will be rescheduled. The revised voting schedule for Minyerri will be published on this website.
West Arnhem Regional Council – Mumeka, Yikarrakkal, Kolorbidahdah
West Daly Regional Council – Merrepen, Nama, Wudapuli.

Remote voting amendment notifications

During elections mobile voting services may change. This may occur due to logistics (e.g. travel delays) or cultural reasons. The returning officer can change the dates or hours specified for a place if satisfied there are special circumstances requiring the change.

Notice to the public us be given of the change that is reasonable and practicable. The NT Electoral Commission will issue an amendment notice and publish this on this website in addition to advising all stakeholders through existing communication channels.

View details of amendments on when and where to vote.

Election timetable

All postal vote despatches cease – 21 August
Early voting period - 11 to 22 August
Election day – 23 August
Deadline to receive returned postal votes - 12 noon, 5 September

Resources

Territorians continue to early vote across the Territory

The third day of early voting saw 3,481 Territorians cast their vote across the Territory, a slight increase from yesterday’s early voting figures. 10,980 Territorians have cast their vote over the first three days of early voting in the 2025 Local Government Elections.

Alice Springs Early Voting Centre (Alice Springs Town Council) – 413
Casuarina Early Voting Centre (Casuarina Library) – 912
Coolalinga Central Early Voting Centre (Coolalinga Central) – 620
Darwin Early Voting Centre (AANT Centre formerly known as Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 459
Katherine Central Early Voting Centre (Katherine Central Shopping Centre) – 327
Palmerston Early Voting Centre (Palmerston Recreation Centre) – 614

Eight days of early voting remain before election day on Saturday 23 August.

Over 130,000 Territorians are required to vote in the 2025 Local Government Elections to determine their council representatives.

Key information

The NTEC will publish daily updates during the voting period, which provides voting statistics for each day of the early voting period. This information will also be available in a spreadsheet and attached to the daily summary. Voting data will be provided at close of voting for the previous day of voting.

Please note that remote mobile team data may not be available daily. These figures will be included in the daily statistics once devices return to mobile range and data transfer is possible. All votes are securely recorded offline and transmitted when connectivity is restored.

Postal voting

At the end of voting on 13 August, around 5,207 postal votes had been issued.

Postal vote applications are still open and voters are encouraged to apply for a postal vote now if they are unable to attend a voting centre.

Early voting

Early voting continues with voting services available at the following times:

Tuesday 12 August to Friday 15 August – 8am to 5pm
Saturday 16 August – 8am to 3pm
Monday 18 August to Thursday 21 August – 8am to 5pm
Friday 22 August 2025 – 8am to 6pm

Remote mobile voting

Today remote mobile voting services will be provided at the following communities:

McDonnell Regional Council – Papunya, Mount Liebig, Rockhole
Roper Gulf Regional Council – Minyerri, Beswick,
West Arnhem Regional Council – Buluhkaduru, Bolkdjam, Gochan Jiny-Jirra, Ji-Bena
West Daly Regional Council – Manthathpe, Thamarrurr Aged Care.

Remote voting amendment notifications

During elections mobile voting services may change. This may occur due to logistics (e.g. travel delays) or cultural reasons. The returning officer can change the dates or hours specified for a place if satisfied there are special circumstances requiring the change.

Notice to the public us be given of the change that is reasonable and practicable. The NT Electoral Commission will issue an amendment notice and publish this on this website in addition to advising all stakeholders through existing communication channels.

View details of amendments on when and where to vote.

Election timetable

All postal vote despatches cease – 21 August
Early voting period - 11 to 22 August
Election day – 23 August
Deadline to receive returned postal votes - 12 noon, 5 September

Resources

Territorians continue to early vote across the Territory

Day 4 of early voting saw 3,481 Territorians cast their vote across the Territory, a slight increase from yesterday’s early voting figures. 14,417 Territorians have cast their vote over the first 4 days of early voting in the 2025 Local Government Elections, this includes votes cast at remote mobile voting services.

Alice Springs Early Voting Centre (Alice Springs Town Council) – 463
Casuarina Early Voting Centre (Casuarina Library) – 836
Coolalinga Central Early Voting Centre (Coolalinga Central) – 682
Darwin Early Voting Centre (AANT Centre formerly known as Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 447
Katherine Central Early Voting Centre (Katherine Central Shopping Centre) – 302
Palmerston Early Voting Centre (Palmerston Recreation Centre) – 602

Seven days of early voting remain before election day on Saturday 23 August.

Early voting is available tomorrow, (Saturday 15 August) from 8am to 3pm at all early voting centres.

Over 130,000 Territorians are required to vote in the 2025 Local Government Elections to determine their council representatives.

Key information

The NTEC will publish daily updates during the voting period, which provides voting statistics for each day of the early voting period. This information will also be available in a spreadsheet and attached to the daily summary. Voting data will be provided at close of voting for the previous day of voting.

Please note that remote mobile team data may not be available daily. These figures will be included in the daily statistics once devices return to mobile range and data transfer is possible. All votes are securely recorded offline and transmitted when connectivity is restored.

Postal voting

At the end of voting on 14 August, around 5,580 postal votes had been issued.

Postal vote applications are still open and voters are encouraged to apply for a postal vote now if they are unable to attend a voting centre.

Early voting

Early voting continues with voting services available at the following times:

Tuesday 12 August to Friday 15 August – 8am to 5pm
Saturday 16 August – 8am to 3pm
Monday 18 August to Thursday 21 August – 8am to 5pm
Friday 22 August 2025 – 8am to 6pm

Remote mobile voting

Today remote mobile voting services will be provided at the following communities:

Coomalie Community Government Council – Batchelor
McDonnell Regional Council – Mbunghara, Areyonga
Roper Gulf Regional Council – Jilkminggan
West Arnhem Regional Council – Mala’la Aged Care, Garmardi, Warruwi.

Urban mobile voting

Urban mobile voting services will be provided at the Darwin Correctional Facility.

Remote voting amendment notifications

During elections mobile voting services may change. This may occur due to logistics (e.g. travel delays) or cultural reasons. The returning officer can change the dates or hours specified for a place if satisfied there are special circumstances requiring the change.

Notice to the public us be given of the change that is reasonable and practicable. The NT Electoral Commission will issue an amendment notice and publish this on this website in addition to advising all stakeholders through existing communication channels.

View details of amendments on when and where to vote.

Election timetable

All postal vote despatches cease – 21 August
Early voting period - 11 to 22 August
Election day – 23 August
Deadline to receive returned postal votes - 12 noon, 5 September

Resources

Territorians continue to early vote across the Territory

Early voting continued Friday 15 August 2025 (day 5), early voting services were also available on Saturday 16 August 2025 (day 6) from 8am to 3pm.

Day 5 and 6 of early voting saw 8,642 Territorians cast their vote across the Territory with a strong attendance of 4,467 on Saturday.

Approximately 23,500 or 18% of eligible Territorians have now cast their vote over the first 6 days of early voting, this includes votes cast at remote and urban mobile voting services.

Day 5 of early voting (Friday 15 August) – voting data

Alice Springs Early Voting Centre (Alice Springs Town Council) – 598
Casuarina Early Voting Centre (Casuarina Library) – 965
Coolalinga Central Early Voting Centre (Coolalinga Central) – 757
Darwin Early Voting Centre (AANT Centre formerly known as Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 518
Katherine Central Early Voting Centre (Katherine Central Shopping Centre) – 342
Palmerston Early Voting Centre (Palmerston Recreation Centre) – 617

Day 6 of early voting (Saturday 16 August) – voting data

Alice Springs Early Voting Centre (Alice Springs Town Council) – 676
Casuarina Early Voting Centre (Casuarina Library) – 1,122
Coolalinga Central Early Voting Centre (Coolalinga Central) – 899
Darwin Early Voting Centre (AANT Centre formerly known as Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 616
Katherine Central Early Voting Centre (Katherine Central Shopping Centre) – 307
Palmerston Early Voting Centre (Palmerston Recreation Centre) – 786

There are 5 days of early voting remaining before election day on Saturday 23 August.

The last date to vote early is Friday 22 August 2025 with voting open from 8am until 6pm.

Key information

The NTEC will publish daily updates during the voting period, which provides voting statistics for each day of the early voting period. This information will also be available in a spreadsheet and attached to the daily summary. Voting data will be provided at close of voting for the previous day of voting.

Please note that remote mobile team data may not be available daily. These figures will be included in the daily statistics once devices return to mobile range and data transfer is possible. All votes are securely recorded offline and transmitted when connectivity is restored.

Postal voting

At the end of voting on 15 August, around 5,990 postal votes have been issued with just over 320 returned and admitted to be counted when voting concludes.

Postal votes are still open, however, with only 5 days until election day, voters unable to attend a voting centre and wanting to postal vote should apply now to receive the postal vote in time.

Postal votes must be completed by 6pm on Election Day and received by the NTEC by 12 noon Friday 5 September 2025.

Early voting

Early voting continues with voting services available this week at the following times:

Monday 18 August to Thursday 21 August – 8am to 5pm
Friday 22 August 2025 – 8am to 6pm.

Remote mobile voting

On Saturday (16 August) remote mobile voting services were provided in Coomalie Community Government Council at the Batchelor Area School Library.

Today, remote mobile voting services will be provided at the following communities:

Coomalie Community Government Council – Adelaide River
East Arnhem Regional Council – Milingimbi, Ramingining
MacDonnell Regional Council – Imanpa
Roper Gulf Regional Council – Daly Waters
West Arnhem Regional Council – Maningrida (New Sub)
Central Desert regional Council – Willowra.

Urban mobile voting

Urban mobile voting services will be provided in Darwin and Alice Springs correctional facilities.

Remote voting amendment notifications

During elections mobile voting services may change. This may occur due to logistics (e.g. travel delays) or cultural reasons. The returning officer can change the dates or hours specified for a place if satisfied there are special circumstances requiring the change.

Notice to the public us be given of the change that is reasonable and practicable. The NT Electoral Commission will issue an amendment notice and publish this on this website in addition to advising all stakeholders through existing communication channels.

Election day

Voting on election day will be available at 17 voting centre locations across the Territory.

Not all election day voting centres will issue ballot papers for all councils. Voters planning to vote outside their council area can find the closest voting centre issuing ballot papers for all councils by visiting this website or contacting the NTEC service centre on 1800 698 683.

View details on when and where to vote.

Election timetable

All postal vote despatches cease – 21 August
Early voting period - 11 to 22 August
Election day – 23 August
Deadline to receive returned postal votes - 12 noon, 5 September

Enrolment statistics

The close of electoral roll for the 2025 Local Government elections was Tuesday 22 July 2025.

At the close of roll there were 151,035 Territorians enrolled to vote in the 2025 Local Government Elections.

Following the declaration of nominations several elections were uncontested (14) where there was the same number of candidates as vacancies or partly failed (5) due to insufficient number of candidates compared to the number of vacancies.

There are approximately 132,000 Territorians enrolled and required to vote in the 34 contested local government council elections being conducted across the Territory to determine council representatives. Voting is compulsory.

View information on enrolment statistics by council/council ward.

Resources

Territorians continue to early vote across the Territory

Day 7 saw 3,361 Territorians cast their vote across the Territory the lowest number of votes issued since early voting commenced last Monday (11 August 2025).

Approximately 26,836 or 20% of eligible Territorians have now cast their vote over the first 7 days of early voting, this includes votes cast at remote and urban mobile voting services.

Day 7 of early voting (Monday 18 August) – voting data

Alice Springs Early Voting Centre (Alice Springs Town Council) – 473
Casuarina Early Voting Centre (Casuarina Library) – 902
Coolalinga Central Early Voting Centre (Coolalinga Central) – 510
Darwin Early Voting Centre (AANT Centre formerly known as Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 490
Katherine Central Early Voting Centre (Katherine Central Shopping Centre) – 197
Palmerston Early Voting Centre (Palmerston Recreation Centre) – 539

There are 4 days of early voting remaining before election day on Saturday 23 August.

The last date to vote early is Friday 22 August 2025 with voting open from 8am until 6pm.

Key information

The NTEC will publish daily updates during the voting period, which provides voting statistics for each day of the early voting period. This information will also be available in a spreadsheet and attached to the daily summary. Voting data will be provided at close of voting for the previous day of voting.

Please note that remote mobile team data may not be available daily. These figures will be included in the daily statistics once devices return to mobile range and data transfer is possible. All votes are securely recorded offline and transmitted when connectivity is restored.

Postal voting

At the end of voting on 18 August, around 6,291 postal votes have been issued with just over 520 returned, admitted and to be counted when voting concludes.

Postal vote applications are still open, however, with only 4 days until election time is running out to receive your postal vote, voters should consider their location and opportunities available to vote in person.

Postal votes must be completed by 6.00pm on Election Day and received by the NTEC by 12 noon, Friday 5 September 2025.

Early voting

Early voting continues with voting services available this week at the following times:

Monday 18 August to Thursday 21 August – 8am to 5pm
Friday 22 August 2025 – 8am to 6pm.

Remote mobile voting

Today, remote mobile voting services will be provided at the following communities:

East Arnhem Regional Council – Milingimbi, Ramingining, Buthan
MacDonnell Regional Council – Mutitjulu
Roper Gulf Regional Council – Mara, King Ash Bay, Wandangula
West Arnhem Regional Council – Maningrida
Victoria Daly Regional Council – Nauiyu
West Daly Regional Council - Wadeye
Katherine Mobile – Binjari, Rockhole.

Urban mobile voting

Urban mobile voting services will be provided in Darwin and Alice Springs correctional facilities.

Remote voting amendment notifications

During elections mobile voting services may change. This may occur due to logistics (e.g. travel delays) or cultural reasons. The returning officer can change the dates or hours specified for a place if satisfied there are special circumstances requiring the change.

Notice to the public us be given of the change that is reasonable and practicable. The NT Electoral Commission will issue an amendment notice and publish this on this website in addition to advising all stakeholders through existing communication channels.

Election day

Voting on election day will be available at 17 voting centre locations across the Territory.

Not all election day voting centres will issue ballot papers for all councils. Voters planning to vote outside their council area can find the closest voting centre issuing ballot papers for all councils by visiting this website or contacting the NTEC service centre on 1800 698 683.

View details of when and where to vote.

Election timetable

All postal vote despatches cease – 21 August
Early voting period - 11 to 22 August
Election day – 23 August
Deadline to receive returned postal votes - 12 noon, 5 September

Enrolment statistics

The close of electoral roll for the 2025 Local Government Elections was Tuesday 22 July 2025.

At the close of roll there were 151,035 Territorians enrolled to vote in the 2025 Local Government Elections.

Following the declaration of nominations several elections were uncontested (14) where there was the same number of candidates as vacancies or partly failed (5) due to insufficient number of candidates compared to the number of vacancies.

There are approximately 132,000 Territorians enrolled and required to vote in the 34 contested local government council elections being conducted across the Territory to determine council representatives. Voting is compulsory.

View information on enrolment statistics by council/council ward.

Resources

Territorians continue to early vote across the Territory

Day 8 saw 3,242 Territorians cast their vote across the Territory.

Approximately 30,540 or 23% of eligible Territorians have now cast their vote over the first 8 days of early voting, this includes votes cast at remote and urban mobile voting services.

Day 8 of early voting (Tuesday 19 August) - voting data

Alice Springs Early Voting Centre (Alice Springs Town Council) – 373
Casuarina Early Voting Centre (Casuarina Library) – 870
Coolalinga Central Early Voting Centre (Coolalinga Central) – 431
Darwin Early Voting Centre (AANT Centre formerly known as Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 457
Katherine Central Early Voting Centre (Katherine Central Shopping Centre) – 186
Palmerston Early Voting Centre (Palmerston Recreation Centre) – 527

There are 3 days of early voting remaining before election day on Saturday 23 August.

The last date to vote early is Friday 22 August 2025 with voting open from 8am until 6pm.

Key information

The NTEC will publish daily updates during the voting period, which provides voting statistics for each day of the early voting period. This information will also be available in a spreadsheet and attached to the daily summary. Voting data will be provided at close of voting for the previous day of voting.

Please note that remote mobile team data may not be available daily. These figures will be included in the daily statistics once devices return to mobile range and data transfer is possible. All votes are securely recorded offline and transmitted when connectivity is restored.

Postal voting

At the end of voting on 19 August, around 6,400 postal votes have been issued with just over 630 returned, admitted and to be counted when voting concludes.

Postal vote mail outs will stop tomorrow. Whilst postal vote applications remain open within Australia, with only 3 days until election day, time is running out to receive postal votes, voters should consider their location and opportunities to vote in person.

Postal votes must be completed by 6pm on Election Day and received by the NTEC by 12 noon Friday 5 September 2025.

Early voting

Early voting continues with voting services available this week at the following times:

Monday 18 August to Thursday 21 August – 8am to 5pm
Friday 22 August 2025 – 8am to 6pm.

Remote mobile voting

Today, remote mobile voting services will be provided at the following communities:

Central Desert Regional Council – Nyirripi
East Arnhem Regional Council – Galiwin’ku
MacDonnell Regional Council – Kings Canyon
Roper Gulf Regional Council – Borroloola
West Arnhem Regional Council – Maningrida
Victoria Daly Regional Council – Daly River
West Daly Regional Council – Wadeye
Tiwi Islands Regional Council – Pickertaramoor, Pirlangimpi.

Urban mobile voting

Urban mobile voting services will be provided in Darwin and Alice Springs correctional facilities.

Remote voting amendment notifications

During elections mobile voting services may change. This may occur due to logistics (e.g. travel delays) or cultural reasons. The returning officer can change the dates or hours specified for a place if satisfied there are special circumstances requiring the change.

Notice to the public will be given of the change that is reasonable and practicable. The NT Electoral Commission will issue an amendment notice and publish it on this website in addition to advising all stakeholders through existing communication channels.

Election day

Voting on election day will be available at 17 voting centre locations across the Territory.

Not all election day voting centres will issue ballot papers for all councils. Voters planning to vote outside their council area can find the closest voting centre issuing ballot papers for all councils by visiting this website or contacting the NTEC service centre on 1800 698 683.

View details on when and where to vote.

Voting counting process

Count preparations continue as scrutiny managers monitor voting statistics and plan the count schedule. The count period is 13 days commencing after voting ends (6pm election day) and concludes at the final count and distribution of preferences following the deadline to receive postal votes (12 noon, 5 September 2025).

Local government elections in the Territory involve single vacancy elections (electing one person to a single position) and multi vacancy elections (electing multiple people to a set number of positions).

Single vacancy positions are counted using the preferential system and will be conducted manually. For 2025 there will be 5 mayor elections and 3 councillor elections for wards where there is a contested election and only one vacancy.

The remaining councillor elections are multi vacancy elections and are counted using the proportional representation system. The first preference counts for these elections will be conducted manually, after which all ballot papers will be entered into count software (called Easy Count) which is used for proportional representation counts.

On election night counts will be conducted at scrutiny centres. There will be a main scrutiny centre in Darwin and Alice Springs, on election day all voting centres become scrutiny centres after 6pm.

View the count schedule PDF (123.1 KB).

Information on the counting process can be found in the candidate handbook PDF (594.0 KB).

Election timetable

All postal vote despatches cease – 21 August
Early voting period - 11 to 22 August
Election day – 23 August
Deadline to receive returned postal votes, 12 noon, 5 September

Enrolment statistics

The close of electoral roll for the 2025 Local Government Elections was Tuesday 22 July 2025.

At the close of roll there were 151,035 Territorians enrolled to vote in the 2025 Local Government Elections.

Following the declaration of nominations several elections were uncontested (14) where there was the same number of candidates as vacancies or partly failed (5) due to insufficient number of candidates compared to the number of vacancies.

There are approximately 132,000 Territorians enrolled and required to vote in the 34 contested local government council elections being conducted across the Territory to determine council representatives. Voting is compulsory.

View information on enrolment statistics by council/council ward.

Resources

Two days of early voting remaining

Day 9 saw 3682 Territorians cast their vote across the Territory.

Approximately 34,011 or 25% of eligible Territorians have now cast their vote over the first 9 days of early voting, this includes votes cast at remote and urban mobile voting services.

Day 9 of early voting (Wednesday 20 August) – voting data

Alice Springs early voting centre (Alice Springs Town Council) – 391
Casuarina early voting centre (Casuarina Library) – 879
Coolalinga early voting centre (Coolalinga Central) – 514
Darwin early voting centre (AANT Centre formerly known as Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 541
Katherine early voting centre (Katherine Central Shopping Centre) – 179
Palmerston early voting centre (Palmerston Recreation Centre) – 526

There are two days of early voting remaining before election day on Saturday 23 August.

The last date to vote early is Friday 22 August 2025 with voting open on Friday from 8.00am until 6.00pm.

Key information

The NTEC will publish daily updates during the voting period, providing voting statistics for each day of the early voting period. This information will also be available in a spreadsheet and attached to the daily summary. Voting data will be provided at close of voting for the previous day of voting.

Please note that remote mobile team data may not be available daily. These figures will be included in the daily statistics once devices return to mobile range and data transfer is possible. All votes are securely recorded offline and transmitted when connectivity is restored.

Postal voting

At the end of voting on 20 August, around 6,489 postal votes have been issued with just over 1760 returned.

Postal vote mail outs will stop today at 6.00pm. While postal vote applications remain open within Australia before this time, with only 2 days until election day, voters should consider their location and opportunities to vote in person.

Postal votes must be completed by 6:00 pm on election day and received by the NTEC by 12 noon, Friday 5 September 2025

Early voting

Early voting continues with voting services available this week at the following times:

Monday 18 August to Thursday 21 August – 8am to 5pm
Friday 22 August 2025 – 8am to 6pm

Remote mobile voting

Today, remote mobile voting services will be provided at the following communities:

Central Desert Regional Council – Yuendumu
East Arnhem Regional Council – Galiwin’ku
MacDonnell Regional Council – Kaltukatjara
West Arnhem Regional Council – Maningrida
West Daly Regional Council – Wadeye
Roper Gulf Regional Council – Robinson River

Urban mobile voting services will be provided at Palmerston Regional Hospital, Darwin Private Hospital and the Alice Springs Correctional facility.

Remote voting amendment notifications

During elections mobile voting services may change. This may occur due to logistics (e.g. travel delays) or cultural reasons. The returning officer can change the dates or hours specified for a place if satisfied there are special circumstances requiring the change.

Notice to the public us be given of the change that is reasonable and practicable. The NT Electoral Commission will issue an amendment notice and publish this on this website in addition to advising all stakeholders through existing communication channels.

Election day

Voting on election day will be available at 17 voting centre locations across the Territory.

Not all election day voting centres will issue ballot papers for all councils. Voters planning to vote outside their council area can find the closest voting centre issuing ballot papers for all councils by visiting this website or contacting the NTEC service centre on 1800 698 683.

View details on when and where to vote.

Early Voting in City of Darwin early voting centres – Supreme Court hearing (20 August)

On 19 August an application was filed in the Supreme Court seeking injunctive relief on matters relating to early voting in the City of Darwin. The NTEC was named as the second defendant to the application, which was heard on 20 August.

The Plaintiff sought several orders one of which was for the NTEC to handle candidate How to Vote (HTV) campaign material. The NTEC opposed this, and the Court did not make any orders on those lines.

The NTEC is not providing or managing HTV tables at any venues.

No formal orders were made and the City of Darwin and the Plaintiff agreed to the wording of an undertaking. The City of Darwin has issued a media release which includes details of the undertaking given to the court. Read the City of Darwin media release.

Vote counting process

Count preparations continue as scrutiny managers monitor voting statistics and plan the count schedule. The count period is 13 days commencing after voting ends (6.00pm election day) and concludes at the final count and distribution of preferences following the deadline to receive postal votes (12 noon, 5 September 2025).

Local government elections in the Territory involve single vacancy elections (electing one person to a single position) and multi vacancy elections (electing multiple people to a set number of positions).

Single vacancy positions are counted using the preferential system and will be conducted manually. For the 2025 Local Government Elections, 5 mayor elections and 3 single vacancy ward elections will be conducted manually.

The remaining councillor elections are multi vacancy elections and are counted using the proportional representation system. The first preference counts for these elections will be conducted manually, after which all ballot papers will be entered into count software (called Easy Count) which is used for proportional representation counts.

On election night counts will be conducted at scrutiny centres. There are 2 main scrutiny centres in Darwin and Alice Springs, and all election day voting centres will become scrutiny centres after 6pm.

View the count schedule PDF (123.1 KB). Updates will be provided during the count period.

Information on the counting process can be found in the candidate handbook PDF (594.0 KB).

Election timetable

All postal vote despatches cease – 21 August (today)
Early voting period 11 – 22 August
Election day – 23 August
Deadline to receive returned postal votes - 12 noon, 5 September

Enrolment statistics

The close of electoral roll for the 2025 Local Government Elections was Tuesday 22 July 2025.

At the close of roll there were 151,035 Territorians enrolled to vote in the 2025 Local Government Elections.

Following the declaration of nominations several elections were uncontested (14) where there was the same number of candidates as vacancies or partly failed (5) due to insufficient number of candidates compared to the number of vacancies.

There are approximately 132,000 Territorians enrolled and required to vote in the 34 contested local government council elections being conducted across the Territory to determine council representatives. Voting is compulsory.

View information on enrolment statistics by council/council ward.

Resources

Last day to early voting – early voting centres open till 6.00pm today

Day 10 saw 3832 Territorians cast their vote across the Territory.

Approximately 37,875 or 28% of eligible Territorians have now cast their vote over the first 10 days of early voting, this includes votes cast at remote and urban mobile voting services.

Day 10 of early voting (Thursday 21 August) – voting data

Alice Springs early voting centre (Alice Springs Town Council) – 453
Casuarina early voting centre (Casuarina Library) – 1,016
Coolalinga early voting centre (Coolalinga Central) – 569
Darwin early voting centre (AANT Centre formerly known as Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 619
Katherine early voting centre (Katherine Central Shopping Centre) – 180
Palmerston early voting centre (Palmerston Recreation Centre) – 634

Today (22 August) is the final day of early voting with early voting centres open from 8am until 6pm.

Key information

The NTEC will publish daily updates during the voting period, providing voting statistics for each day of the early voting period. This information will also be available in a spreadsheet and attached to the daily summary. Voting data will be provided at close of voting for the previous day of voting.

Please note that remote mobile team data may not be available daily. These figures will be included in the daily statistics once devices return to mobile range and data transfer is possible. All votes are securely recorded offline and transmitted when connectivity is restored.

Postal voting

At the end of voting on 21 August, around 6,547 postal votes have been issued with just over 1,853 returned.

Postal applications have closed, and postal vote mail out has now stopped.

Postal votes must be completed by 6:00 pm on election day and received by the NTEC by 12 noon, Friday 5 September 2025.

Early voting

Today is the last day to early voting at early voting centres across the Territory, with an additional hour of voting provided, early voting services will operate from 8am to 6pm.

Remote mobile voting

Today, remote mobile voting services will be provided at the following communities:

East Arnhem Regional Council – Bathula, Gawa
Roper Gulf Regional Council – Wada Warra, Munyalini

Urban mobile voting services will be provided at the Royal Darwin Hospital and the Alice Springs Hospital.

Remote voting amendment notifications

During elections mobile voting services may change. This may occur due to logistics (e.g. travel delays) or cultural reasons. The returning officer can change the dates or hours specified for a place if satisfied there are special circumstances requiring the change.

Notice to the public us be given of the change that is reasonable and practicable. The NT Electoral Commission will issue an amendment notice and publish this on this website in addition to advising all stakeholders through existing communication channels.

Election day

Voting on election day will be available at 17 voting centre locations across the Territory. Some voting centre locations for this election are different from previous elections and voters are encouraged to find their closest election day voting centre by visiting this website.

Not all election day voting centres will issue ballot papers for all councils. Voters planning to vote outside their council area can find the closest voting centre issuing ballot papers for all councils by visiting this website or contacting the NTEC service centre on 1800 698 683.

Election day voting centres (open 8am to 6pm)

Alice Springs

Alice Springs Town Council – 93 Todd Street
Gillen Primary School – 55 Milner Road
Braitling Primary School – 80 Head Street

Darwin

AANT Centre (former Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 93 Mitchell Street
Casuarina Library – 17 Bradshaw Terrace
Nightcliff Middle School – 90 Aralia Street
Sanderson Middle School – 60 Matthews Road

Katherine

Katherine Central Shopping Centre
Tindal Community Hall, Eastern Parade, Tindal

Litchfield

Whitewood Hall – 310 Whitewood Road
Taminmin College – 70 Challoner Circuit
Berry Springs Primary School – 1150 Cox Peninsula Road

Palmerston

Palmerston Recreational Centre – 11 The Boulevard
Swell Leisure Centre – 33 Tilston Avenue
Palmerston College – 7-9 Middle Campus, 185 Forrest Parade

Wagait

Wagait Community Centre – 142 Wagait Tower Road

View details on when and where to vote.

Counting process

The count period takes place over 13 days, commencing on election day after voting closes at 6 pm (Saturday 23 August) and concluding with the final counts and distribution of preferences following the postal vote deadline of 12 noon on Friday 5 September 2025.

Election night counts will be conducted at scrutiny centres. There are two main centres in Darwin and Alice Springs and all election day voting centres will become scrutiny centres after 6pm.

Local government elections in the Territory involve single vacancy elections (electing one person to a single position) and multi vacancy elections (electing multiple people to a set number of positions).

Single vacancy positions are counted using the preferential system and will be conducted manually. For the 2025 Local Government Elections, 5 mayor elections and 3 single vacancy ward elections will be conducted manually.

The remaining councillor elections are multi vacancy elections and are counted using the proportional representation system. The first preference counts for these elections will be conducted manually, after which all ballot papers will be entered into count software (called Easy Count) which is used for proportional representation counts.

The count schedules have been provided to candidates and on resources.

Results will be published on this website once they become available.

Progress updates will be published throughout the count period on this page.

Information on the counting process can be found in the candidate handbook PDF (594.0 KB).

Scrutineers

Scrutineers for candidates play an important role in supporting the integrity of the electoral process. Candidates can appoint scrutineers to observe activities during the voting and counting period. A scrutineer form must be completed and provided. Each candidate may appoint the following at any time:

voting centres during the voting period: one scrutineer per candidate per voting centre
scrutiny centre during the count period: one scrutineer per candidate for each count table that is counting ballot papers that include that candidate for the position the candidate has nominated for.

Further information including the scrutineer nomination form and scrutineer handbook is available on resources.

Election timetable

All postal vote despatches have now ceased
Early voting period 11 – 22 August – today is the last day of early voting
Election day – 23 August
Deadline to receive returned postal votes - 12 noon, 5 September

Enrolment statistics

The close of electoral roll for the 2025 Local Government Elections was Tuesday 22 July 2025.

At the close of roll there were 151,035 Territorians enrolled to vote in the 2025 Local Government Elections.

Following the declaration of nominations several elections were uncontested (14) where there was the same number of candidates as vacancies or partly failed (5) due to insufficient number of candidates compared to the number of vacancies.

There are approximately 132,000 Territorians enrolled and required to vote in the 34 contested local government council elections being conducted across the Territory to determine council representatives. Voting is compulsory.

View information on enrolment statistics.

Early Voting in City of Darwin early voting centres – Supreme Court hearing (20 August).

On 19 August an application was filed in the Supreme Court seeking injunctive relief on matters relating to early voting in the City of Darwin. The NTEC was named as the second defendant to the application, which was heard on 20 August.

The Plaintiff sought several orders one of which was for the NTEC to handle candidate How to Vote (HTV) campaign material. The NTEC opposed this, and the Court did not make any orders on those lines.

The NTEC is not providing or managing HTV tables at any venues.

No formal orders were made and the City of Darwin and the Plaintiff agreed to the wording of an undertaking. The City of Darwin has issued a media release which includes details of the undertaking given to the court.

The NTEC has sent an email to candidates contesting the City of Darwin elections providing the link to the media release.

Resources

Last day of early voting

Day 11 of early voting (22 August) saw 6,731 eligible Territorians cast their vote across the Territory taking advantage additional hour of voting. The last day of early voting recorded the highest number of votes issued across the early voting period.

Approximately 44,671 or 33% of eligible Territorians cast their vote over the 11 days of early voting, including votes cast at remote and urban mobile voting services.

For the early voting period over 40,500 Territorians cast their vote at early voting and mobile voting services.

Day 11 of early voting (Friday 22 August) – voting data

Alice Springs early voting centre (Alice Springs Town Council) – 824
Casuarina early voting centre (Casuarina Library) – 1,683
Coolalinga early voting centre (Coolalinga Central) – 898
Darwin early voting centre (AANT Centre formerly known as Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 1,182
Katherine early voting centre (Katherine Central Shopping Centre) – 289
Palmerston early voting centre (Palmerston Recreation Centre) – 1,150

Election day (Saturday 23 August) – voting data

Election day voting saw approximately 24, 700 Territorians cast their vote at election day voting centres across the Territory.

During the early voting and election day period over 71,900 or 54% of eligible Territorians voted this includes votes cast at remote and urban voting services and postal votes that have been retuned so far.

Alice Springs

Alice Springs Town Council – 1,543
Gillen Primary School – 964
Braitling Primary School – 502

Darwin

AANT Centre (former Darwin Entertainment Centre) – 3,193
Casuarina Library – 3,486
Nightcliff Middle School – 2,948
Sanderson Middle School – 2,802

Katherine

Katherine Central Shopping Centre - 451
Tindal Community Hall, Eastern Parade, Tindal - 91

Litchfield

Whitewood Hall – 487
Taminmin College – 550
Berry Springs Primary School – 374

Palmerston

Palmerston Recreational Centre – 2,557
Swell Leisure Centre – 1,210
Palmerston College - 1,598

Wagait

Wagait Community Centre – 187

At the conclusion of voting on election day, just under 25,000 eligible Territorians had cast their vote.

Postal voting

At the end of voting on 22 August, around 6,548 postal votes have been issued with just over 2,596 returned to be admitted to the count.

Postal votes needed to be completed by 6 pm on election day.

All remaining postal votes must be returned to the NTEC by 12 noon, Friday 5 September 2025.

Remote voting amendment notifications

During elections mobile voting services may change. This may occur due to logistics (e.g. travel delays) or cultural reasons. The returning officer can change the dates or hours specified for a place if satisfied there are special circumstances requiring the change.

Notice to the public us be given of the change that is reasonable and practicable. The NT Electoral Commission will issue an amendment notice and publish this on this website in addition to advising all stakeholders through existing communication channels.

Election night – counting

On election night a preliminary count of ballot papers was undertaken with 119,976 ballot papers counted including:

votes cast at all early voting centres
votes cast on election day
votes cast at remote mobile teams.

Early votes were counted at scrutiny centres in Darwin and Alice Springs and all election day votes were counted at each election day voting centre.

Candidate scrutineers were able to attend counts at all counting locations.

Counting continues today – (Monday 25 August)

A fresh scrutiny or check of all single vacancy positions (mayor and some councillor elections) will take place today in Darwin and Alice Springs with each ballot paper counted on election night reviewed again under scrutiny.

Following the preliminary count of ballot papers for multi vacancy positions, ballot papers will continue to be checked using count software called EasyCount. Ballot papers will be batched in preparation for data entry and verification during the count period, this process occurs under scrutiny.

During the count period additional counts will be added including postal votes, absent votes and declaration votes.

Stay up to date with election results

From 26 August daily summaries will be provided during the count period (excluding weekends).

Updates will be published in the afternoon providing details of the count.

Candidates will be directly contacted by email and provided with any updates to the count schedule for the following day.

Key information

The NTEC will publish updates during the counting period as new counts are completed. Results for manually counted positions will be updated during the count period. Updates for new counts for multi vacancy positions will be updated during the count period, however following this all ballot papers will be entered and verified using count software (EasyCount) with the final results published following the final counts after the deadline to for receipt of postal votes and the distribution of preferences on Friday 5 September.

About the counting period

The count period takes place over 13 days, commencing on election day after voting closes at 6pm (Saturday 23 August) and concluding with the final counts and distribution of preferences following the postal vote deadline of 12 noon on Friday 5 September 2025.

Election night counts are conducted at scrutiny centres. There are 2 main centres in Darwin and Alice Springs and all election day voting centres will become scrutiny centres after 6pm.

Local government elections in the Territory involve single vacancy elections (electing one person to a single position) and multi vacancy elections (electing multiple people to a set number of positions).

Single vacancy positions are counted using the preferential system and will be conducted manually. For the 2025 Local Government Elections, 5 mayor elections and 3 single vacancy ward elections will be conducted manually.

The remaining councillor elections are multi vacancy elections and are counted using the proportional representation system. The first preference counts for these elections will be conducted manually, after which all ballot papers will be entered into count software (called Easy Count) which is used for proportional representation counts.

The count schedules have been provided to candidates and on resources.

Results will be published on this website once they become available.

Progress updates will be published throughout the count period on this page.

Information on the counting process can be found in the candidate handbook PDF (594.0 KB).

Scrutineers

Scrutineers for candidates play an important role in supporting the integrity of the electoral process. Candidates can appoint scrutineers to observe activities during the voting and counting period. A scrutineer form must be completed and provided. Each candidate may appoint the following at any time:

voting centres during the voting period: one scrutineer per candidate per voting centre
scrutiny centre during the count period: one scrutineer per candidate for each count table that is counting ballot papers that include that candidate for the position the candidate has nominated for.

Further information including the scrutineer nomination form and scrutineer handbook is available on resources.

Election timetable

Count period – 23 August to 5 September
Deadline to receive returned postal votes - 12 noon, 5 September
Final Counts and distribution of preferences – 5 September 2025

Enrolment statistics

The close of electoral roll for the 2025 Local Government Elections was Tuesday 22 July 2025.

At the close of roll there were 151,035 Territorians enrolled to vote in the 2025 Local Government Elections.

Following the declaration of nominations several elections were uncontested (14) where there was the same number of candidates as vacancies or partly failed (5) due to insufficient number of candidates compared to the number of vacancies.

There are approximately 132,000 Territorians enrolled and required to vote in the 34 contested local government council elections being conducted across the Territory to determine council representatives. Voting is compulsory.

View information on enrolment statistics.

Resources

Counting continues for the 2025 Local Government Elections.

Darwin Scrutiny Centre

Today

Fresh scrutiny for Darwin Mayor as well as initial postal vote counts for Darwin Mayor and Darwin Ward Richardson.

EasyCount data entry and verification processes commenced for:

Coomalie Wards (Adelaide River, Batchelor Township, Coomalie Rural)
Darwin Wards (Chan, Lyons, Waters, Richardson)
East Arnhem Wards (Birr Rawarrang, Gumurr Gattjirrk, Gumurr Marthakal) and
Katherine Councillor.

Commencement of the absent vote exchange processes took place today.

Tomorrow

Manual counts will continue including fresh scrutiny concurrently for Darwin Mayor, Litchfield Mayor, fresh scrutiny of postal votes for Darwin Mayor and Darwin Richardson Ward.

Initial postal counts will also commence for:

Darwin Wards (Chan, Waters, Lyons)
Palmerston Mayor
Palmerston Councillor
Katherine Mayor
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Mayor
Litchfield Wards (Central and South).

Concurrently, EasyCount data entry and verification processes will begin for:

Darwin Wards (Waters, Richardson, Lyons)
East Arnhem Wards (Birr Rawarrang, Gumurr Gattjirrk, Gumurr Marthakal)
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Wards (South, Central)
Palmerston Councillor.

Alice Springs Scrutiny Centre

Today

The initial postal vote count for Alice Springs Mayor and Alice Springs Councillor, followed by EasyCount batching for multivacancy positions.

Tomorrow

EasyCount data entry and verification processes will commence and be accessible to scrutineers, covering counts for Alice Springs Councillor, Central Desert – Southern Tanami, MacDonnell (Luritja Pintubi, Iyarrka, Ljirapinta).

Absent vote exchange process.

Declaration votes

340 declaration envelopes have today been sent to the Australian Electoral Commission for review and may be included in the count.

Postal votes

To date 3,434 postal votes have been returned and will be admitted to the count.

Absent votes

The absent vote exchange process continued today. There absent vote exchange is schedule for 27 August for Alice Springs and 28 August for Darwin with the initial counts to commence on Thursday 28 August.

Stay up to date with election results

During the count period daily summaries of the progress of the count will be provided (excluding weekends).

Updates will be published in the afternoon providing details of the count.

Candidates will be directly contacted by email and provided with any updates to the count schedule for the following day.

Key information

The NTEC will publish updates during the counting period as new counts are completed. Results for manually counted positions will be updated during the count period.

All new counts for multi vacancy positions will be updated during the count period, however following this all ballot papers will be entered and verified using count software (EasyCount) with the final results published following the final counts after the deadline to for receipt of postal votes and the distribution of preferences on Friday 5 September.

About the counting period

The count period takes place over 13 days, commencing on election day after voting closes at 6pm (Saturday 23 August) and concluding with the final counts and distribution of preferences following the postal vote deadline of 12 noon on Friday 5 September 2025.

Election night counts are conducted at scrutiny centres. There are 2 main centres in Darwin and Alice Springs and all election day voting centres will become scrutiny centres after 6pm.

Local government elections in the Territory involve single vacancy elections (electing one person to a single position) and multi vacancy elections (electing multiple people to a set number of positions).

Single vacancy positions are counted using the preferential system and will be conducted manually. For the 2025 Local Government Elections, 5 mayor elections and 3 single vacancy ward elections will be conducted manually.

The remaining councillor elections are multi vacancy elections and are counted using the proportional representation system. The first preference counts for these elections will be conducted manually, after which all ballot papers will be entered into count software (called Easy Count) which is used for proportional representation counts.

The count schedules have been provided to candidates and on resources.

Results will be published on this website once they become available.

Progress updates will be published throughout the count period on this page.

Information on the counting process can be found in the candidate handbook PDF (594.0 KB).

Scrutineers

Scrutineers for candidates play an important role in supporting the integrity of the electoral process. Candidates can appoint scrutineers to observe activities during the voting and counting period. A scrutineer form must be completed and provided. Each candidate may appoint the following at any time:

voting centres during the voting period: one scrutineer per candidate per voting centre
scrutiny centre during the count period: one scrutineer per candidate for each count table that is counting ballot papers that include that candidate for the position the candidate has nominated for.

Further information including the scrutineer nomination form and scrutineer handbook is available on resources.

Election timetable

Count period – 23 August to 5 September
Deadline to receive returned postal votes - 12 noon, 5 September
Final Counts and distribution of preferences – 5 September 2025

Counting continues for the 2025 Local Government Elections.

Darwin Scrutiny Centre

Today

Manual counts continued today including fresh scrutiny concurrently for Darwin Mayor, Litchfield Mayor, fresh scrutiny of postal votes for Darwin Mayor and Darwin Richardson Ward.

Initial postal counts also commenced for:

Darwin Wards (Chan, Waters, Lyons)
Palmerston Mayor
Palmerston Councillor
Katherine Mayor
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Mayor
Litchfield Wards (Central and South).

Data entry using count software (Easy Count) and verification processes began for:

Darwin Wards (Waters, Richardson, Lyons)
East Arnhem Wards (Birr Rawarrang, Gumurr Gattjirrk, Gumurr Marthakal)
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Wards (South, Central)
Palmerston Councillor.

Tomorrow

Initial absent vote counts to commence for the following elections:

Darwin Mayor
Darwin Wards (Chan, Lyons, Richardson, Waters)
Palmerston Mayor
Palmerston Councillor
Katherine Mayor
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Mayor
Litchfield Wards (Central and South)
Coomalie Wards (Adelaide River, Batchelor Township, Coomalie Rural)
Roper Gulf Wards (Never Never, Nyirranggulung)
Wagait Councillor
West Daly Thamarrurr/Pindi Pindi.

Data entry using count software (Easy Count) and verification processes to continue for:

East Arnhem Wards (Birr Rawarrang, Gumurr Gattjirrk, Gumurr Marthakal)
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Wards (South and Central)
Palmerston Councillor
Roper Gulf Wards (Never Never, Nyirranggulung, South West Gulf)
Tiwi Islands – Pirlangimpi
Wagait Councillor
West Arnhem – Manigrida
West Daly – Thamarrurr/Pindi Pindi.

Alice Springs Scrutiny Centre

Today

Data entry using count software (Easy Count) and verification processes began under scrutiny for Alice Springs Councillor, Central Desert – Southern Tanami, MacDonnell (Luritja Pintubi, Iyarrka, Ljirapinta) counts.

Absent vote exchange process for Alice Springs took place.

Tomorrow

Initial absent vote counts to commence for the following elections:

Alice Springs Mayor
Alice Springs Councillor.

Fresh count for Alice Springs Mayor.

Data entry using count software (Easy Count) and verification processes to continue for:

Alice Springs Councillor
Central Desert – Southern Tanami
MacDonnell – Luritja Pintubi
MacDonnell – Iyarrka
MacDonnell – Ljirapinta.

Note for all counts: Where the number of votes to be counted is small these votes may not be counted as a separate count and may be merged with another count to maintain secrecy of the vote. A small number of votes may also be held back and merged with counts later in the count period.

Declaration votes

340 declaration envelopes were sent to the Australian Electoral Commission on Tuesday 26 August for review and may be included in the count.

Postal votes

To date 3,521 postal votes have been returned and will be admitted to the count.

Absent votes

The absent vote exchange process concluded today. 5,707 absent votes across all councils were exchanged with the initial counts to commence in Darwin and Alice Springs scrutiny centres on Thursday 28 August.

Stay up to date with election results

During the count period daily summaries of the progress of the count will be provided (excluding weekends).

Updates will be published in the afternoon providing details of the count.

Candidates will be directly contacted by email and provided with any updates to the count schedule for the following day.

Declaration of result of election – Belyuen Community Government Council

The results for the Belyuen Community Government Council Periodic Election have now been declared. The declaration was made as the election for this council was uncontested.

On 1 August at the declaration of nominations 5 candidate nominations were accepted for 5 vacancies. In accordance with Regulation 10(5) of the Local Government (Electoral) Regulations 2021, the 5 candidates were declared elected at that time.

Belyuen Community Government Council comprises a single local government area and does not have a ward structure.

Key information

The NTEC will publish updates during the counting period as new counts are completed. Results for manually counted positions will be updated during the count period.

All new counts for multi vacancy positions will be updated during the count period, however following this all ballot papers will be entered and verified using count software (EasyCount) with the final results published following the final counts after the deadline to for receipt of postal votes and the distribution of preferences on Friday 5 September.

About the counting period

The count period takes place over 13 days, commencing on election day after voting closes at 6pm (Saturday 23 August) and concluding with the final counts and distribution of preferences following the postal vote deadline of 12 noon on Friday 5 September 2025.

Following election night counts, all fresh scrutiny and new counts will be conducted at the scrutiny centres in Darwin and Alice Springs.

Local government elections in the Territory involve single vacancy elections (electing one person to a single position) and multi vacancy elections (electing multiple people to a set number of positions).

Single vacancy positions are counted using the preferential system and will be conducted manually. For the 2025 Local Government Elections, 5 mayor elections and 3 single vacancy ward elections will be conducted manually.

The remaining councillor elections are multi vacancy elections and are counted using the proportional representation system. The first preference counts for these elections will be conducted manually, after which all ballot papers will be entered into count software (called Easy Count) which is used for proportional representation counts.

During the counting process each ballot paper will be looked multiple times under scrutiny. For multi vacancy elections ballot papers the initial count is carried out manually and the data entry into software involves an initial data entry and separate verification of each ballot paper.

The count schedules have been provided to candidates and on resources.

Results will be published on this website once they become available.

Progress updates will be published throughout the count period on this page.

Information on the counting process can be found in the candidate handbook PDF (594.0 KB).

Scrutineers

Scrutineers for candidates play an important role in supporting the integrity of the electoral process. Candidates can appoint scrutineers to observe activities during the voting and counting period. A scrutineer form must be completed and provided. Each candidate may appoint the following at any time:

voting centres during the voting period: one scrutineer per candidate per voting centre
scrutiny centre during the count period: one scrutineer per candidate for each count table that is counting ballot papers that include that candidate for the position the candidate has nominated for.

Further information including the scrutineer nomination form and scrutineer handbook is available on resources.

Election timetable

Count period – 23 August to 5 September
Deadline to receive returned postal votes - 12 noon, 5 September
Final Counts and distribution of preferences – 5 September 2025

Did you know?

For every initial count each ballot paper is counted by hand and in the presence of scrutineers to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the count. During the recheck or fresh scrutiny for single vacancies every ballot paper is counted by hand again in the presence of scrutineers.

For multi vacancy elections after the initial manual count, the preferences recorded on each ballot paper is manually data entered into a count software system (EasyCount) and verified through a separate manual data entry process.

For local government elections there are many more ballot papers to count and check as the larger municipal councils (City of Darwin, City of Palmerston, Litchfield Shire Council, Katherine Town Council and Alice Springs Council) have elections for both mayor and councillor positions.

As a politically neutral and trusted independent statutory authority, the NT Electoral Commission is responsible for delivering impartial and transparent elections. So, no matter the likely result, we must ensure the count is done methodically and undertaken with rigour to ensure the results are right not rushed.

Counting continues for the 2025 Local Government Elections.

Darwin Scrutiny Centre

Today

Initial absent vote counts were completed for the following elections:

Darwin Mayor
Darwin Wards (Chan, Lyons, Richardson, Waters)
Palmerston Mayor
Palmerston Councillor
Katherine Mayor
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Mayor
Litchfield Wards (Central and South)
Coomalie Wards (Adelaide River, Batchelor Township, Coomalie Rural)
Roper Gulf Wards (Never Never, Nyirranggulung)
Wagait Councillor
West Daly Thamarrurr/Pindi Pindi

Data entry using count software (Easy Count) and verification processes continued for:

East Arnhem Wards (Birr Rawarrang, Gumurr Gattjirrk, Gumurr Marthakal)
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Wards (South and Central)
Palmerston Councillor
Roper Gulf Wards (Never Never, Nyirranggulung, South West Gulf)
Tiwi Islands – Pirlangimpi
Wagait Councillor
West Arnhem – Manigrida
West Daly – Thamarrurr/Pindi Pindi

Tomorrow

Initial absent vote counts for the following elections:

Litchfield Mayor
Litchfield Central
Litchfield South

Fresh absent vote counts for the following:

Darwin Mayor
Palmerston Mayor
Litchfield Mayor
Katherine Mayor

Data entry using count software (Easy Count) and verification processes to continue for:

Darwin Wards (Chan, Lyons, Waters, Richardson)
East Arnhem Wards (Birr Rawarrang, Gumurr Gattjirrk, Gumurr Marthakal)
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Wards (South, Central)
Palmerston Councillor
Roper Gulf Wards (Never Never, Nyirranggulung, South West Gulf)
Tiwi Islands – Pirlangimpi
Wagait Councillor
West Arnhem – Manigrida
West Daly – Thamarrurr/Pindi Pindi

Alice Springs Scrutiny Centre

Today

Initial absent vote counts were completed for the following elections:

Alice Springs Mayor
Alice Springs Councillor

Fresh count for Alice Springs Mayor.

Data entry using count software (Easy Count) and verification processes continued for:

Alice Springs Councillor
Central Desert – Southern Tanami
MacDonnell – Luritja Pintubi
MacDonnell – Iyarrka
MacDonnell – Ljirapinta

Tomorrow

Data entry using count software (Easy Count) and verification processes to continue for:

Alice Springs Councillor
Central Desert – Southern Tanami
MacDonnell – Luritja Pintubi
MacDonnell – Iyarrka
MacDonnell – Ljirapinta

Note for all counts: Where the number of votes to be counted is small these votes may not be counted as a separate count and may be merged with another count to maintain secrecy of the vote. A small number of votes may also be held back and merged with counts later in the count period.

Declaration votes

340 declaration envelopes were sent to the Australian Electoral Commission on Tuesday 26 August for review and may be included in the count.

Postal votes

To date 3,565 postal votes have been returned and will be admitted to the count.

Absent votes

The initial count of absent votes commenced today in Darwin and Alice Springs scrutiny centres with approximately 4,700 absent vote ballot papers included in the count.

Stay up to date with election results

During the count period daily summaries of the progress of the count will be provided (excluding weekends).

Updates will be published in the afternoon providing details of the count.

Candidates will be directly contacted by email and provided with any updates to the count schedule for the following day.

Declaration of result of election – Belyuen Community Government Council

The results for the Belyuen Community Government Council Periodic Election have now been declared. The declaration was made as the election for this council was uncontested.

On 1 August at the declaration of nominations five candidate nominations were accepted for five vacancies. In accordance with Regulation 10(5) of the Local Government (Electoral) Regulations 2021, the five candidates were declared elected at that time.

Belyuen Community Government Council comprises a single local government area and does not have a ward structure.

Key information

The NTEC will publish updates during the counting period as new counts are completed. Results for manually counted positions will be updated during the count period.

All new counts for multi vacancy positions will be updated during the count period, however following this all ballot papers will be entered and verified using count software (EasyCount) with the final results published following the final counts after the deadline to for receipt of postal votes and the distribution of preferences on Friday 5 September.

About the counting period

The count period takes place over 13 days, commencing on election day after voting closes at 6:00 pm (Saturday 23 August) and concluding with the final counts and distribution of preferences following the postal vote deadline of 12 noon on Friday 5 September 2025.

Following election night counts, all fresh scrutiny and new counts will be conducted at the scrutiny centres in Darwin and Alice Springs.

Local government elections in the Territory involve single vacancy elections (electing one person to a single position) and multi vacancy elections (electing multiple people to a set number of positions).

Single vacancy positions are counted using the preferential system and will be conducted manually. For the 2025 Local Government Elections, 5 mayor elections and 3 single vacancy ward elections will be conducted manually.

The remaining councillor elections are multi vacancy elections and are counted using the proportional representation system. The first preference counts for these elections will be conducted manually, after which all ballot papers will be entered into count software (called Easy Count) which is used for proportional representation counts.

During the counting process each ballot paper will be looked multiple times under scrutiny. For muti vacancy elections ballot papers the initial count is carried out manually and the data entry into software involves an initial data entry and separate verification of each ballot paper.

The count schedules have been provided to candidates and published and are available on the NTEC website resources.

Results will be published on this website once they become available.

Progress updates will be published throughout the count period on this page.

Information on the counting process can be found in the candidate handbook PDF (594.0 KB).

Scrutineers

Scrutineers for candidates play an important role in supporting the integrity of the electoral process. Candidates can appoint scrutineers to observe activities during the voting and counting period. A scrutineer form must be completed and provided. Each candidate may appoint the following at any time:

voting centres during the voting period: one scrutineer per candidate per voting centre
scrutiny centre during the count period: one scrutineer per candidate for each count table that is counting ballot papers that include that candidate for the position the candidate has nominated for.

Further information including the scrutineer nomination form and scrutineer handbook is available on resources.

Election timetable

Count period – 23 August to 5 September
Deadline to receive returned postal votes, 12 noon, 5 September
Final Counts and distribution of preferences – 5 September 2025

Did you know?

For every initial count each ballot paper is counted by hand and in the presence of scrutineers to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the count. During the recheck or fresh scrutiny for single vacancies every ballot paper is counted by hand again in the presence of scrutineers.

For multi vacancy elections after the initial manual count, the preferences recorded on each ballot paper is manually data entered into a count software system (EasyCount) and verified through a separate manual data entry process.

For local government elections there are many more ballot papers to count and check as the larger municipal councils (City of Darwin, City of Palmerston, Litchfield Shire Council, Katherine Town Council and Alice Springs Council) have elections for both mayor and councillor positions.

As a politically neutral and trusted independent statutory authority, the NT Electoral Commission is responsible for delivering impartial and transparent elections. So, no matter the likely result, we must ensure the count is done methodically and undertaken with rigour to ensure the results are right not rushed.

Counting continues for the 2025 Local Government Elections

Darwin Scrutiny Centre

Today

Initial absent vote counts were completed for the following elections:

Litchfield Mayor
Litchfield Central
Litchfield South

Fresh absent vote counted for the following:

Darwin Mayor
Palmerston Mayor
Litchfield Mayor
Katherine Mayor

Data entry using count software (Easy Count) and verification processes continued for:

Darwin Wards (Chan, Lyons, Waters, Richardson)
East Arnhem Wards (Birr Rawarrang, Gumurr Gattjirrk, Gumurr Marthakal)
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Wards (South, Central)
Palmerston Councillor
Roper Gulf Wards (Never Never, Nyirranggulung, South West Gulf)
Tiwi Islands – Pirlangimpi
Wagait Councillor
West Arnhem – Manigrida
West Daly – Thamarrurr/Pindi Pindi

Monday 1 September

Data entry using count software (Easy Count) and verification processes to continue for:

Darwin Wards (Waters, Richardson)
East Arnhem Wards (Birr Rawarrang, Gumurr Gattjirrk, Gumurr Marthakal)
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Wards (South, Central)
Palmerston Councillor
Roper Gulf Wards (Never Never, Nyirranggulung, South West Gulf)
Tiwi Islands – Pirlangimpi
Wagait Councillor
West Arnhem – Manigrida
West Daly – Thamarrurr/Pindi Pindi

Postal counts:

Darwin Chan
Darwin Lyons
Darwin Richardson
Darwin Waters
Palmerston Councillor
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Central
Litchfield South

Absent counts:

Darwin Chan
Darwin Lyons
Darwin Richardson
Darwin Waters
Palmerston Councillor
Katherine Councillor
Litchfield Central
Litchfield South
Coomalie Wards (Adelaide River, Batchelor Township, Coomalie Rural)
Roper Gulf (Never Never, Nyirranggulung)
Wagait Councillor
West Daly – Thamarrurr/Pindi Pindi

Alice Springs Scrutiny Centre

Today

Data entry using count software (Easy Count) and verification processes continued for:

Alice Springs Councillor
Central Desert – Southern Tanami
MacDonnell – Luritja Pintubi
MacDonnell – Iyarrka
MacDonnell – Ljirapinta

Tomorrow

Continue data entry using count software (Easy Count) and verification processes to continue for:

Alice Springs Councillor
Central Desert – Southern Tanami
MacDonnell – Luritja Pintubi
MacDonnell – Iyarrka
MacDonnell – Ljirapinta

Note for all counts: Where the number of votes to be counted is small these votes may not be counted as a separate count and may be merged with another count to maintain secrecy of the vote. A small number of votes may also be held back and merged with counts later in the count period.

Declaration votes

345 declaration envelopes were sent to the Australian Electoral Commission on Tuesday 26 August for review and may be included in the count.

Postal votes

To date 3,721postal votes have been returned and will be admitted to the count.

Absent votes

The initial count of absent votes for Litchfield Shire Council took place today in Darwin with approximately 1,065 absent vote ballot papers included in the count.