As you probably know, Council elections are coming up, and this year it is entirely a postal system.

The ballot packs are being mailed out between 6-8 October (so if you are like me and rarely check the letterbox, pop out and see if yours has arrived … and if not, check again in a day or two).

The ballot pack you receive will contain:

• a ballot paper attached to statements and photographs lodged by the candidates in your council or ward

• voting instructions

• a ballot paper envelope with a flap

• a reply-paid envelope.

You need to vote before 6pm on Friday 23 October. This means either your vote must be in the mail before this time or alternatively you can deliver your vote in person to the local election office. To find out where your local election office is, which ward you are voting in (because they have changed for Darebin this year) … and all the other things, click here.

If you are still waiting to get your ballot pack but want to find out about the candidates you are choosing between, click on the link above and type in your address to confirm your ward. Then click on your Council. Then click on the ward you are in. Then click on ‘expand all’ at the top of the list of candidates. This enables you to see a statement from each candidate in a list. Alternatively you can download each candidates questionnaire individually by clicking on ‘see response’.

Good luck. As my partner Clive likes to say, vote early and vote often (note this is just a joke. It is a good idea to vote early … but of course you can only vote once - I’m sure I don’t need to tell you this, hopefully??!). Anyway …

At ACC we’ll be eagerly awaiting the outcome of these elections and will be looking forward to working with all the Councillors who get elected across both Yarra and Darebin over the coming years.