Six groups are Independent or unaffiliated while Labor and The Greens are fielding one group each.

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Eight councillors are to be elected while the Mayor will be chosen from a field of seven.

Under the optional preferential voting system (OPV), electors can vote for a group by checking a single box above the line on the ballot paper, or they can choose to vote for individual councillors by numbering the boxes below the line.

It will be a tight contest in Bellingen where fourteen people are vying for six councillor positions and two former mayors are going head to head in the popular vote.

Following are the candidates for both local government areas, based on the positions they draw on the ballot paper.

City of Coffs Harbour

1. GROUP A (Independent): Nikki Williams of Coffs Harbour (group lead), Cath Fowler of Boambee East, Les Oxford of Korora, Gurminder Saro of Woolgoolga, Matt Gosling of Boambee, Falak Othman of Coffs Harbour, Clinton Hayes of Coffs Harbour, Barbara Haigh of Korora and Neil Manson of Sandy Beach.

2. GROUP B (Independent): Rodney Fox of Coffs Harbour (group lead), Nicole Bourne of Boambee, Michael Thompson-Blair of Sandy Beach and Dudley Mitchell-Adams of Bonville.

3. GROUP C (No affiliation): John O’Brien of Coffs Harbour (group lead), Jasmine Braun of Sandy Beach, Dorothea Skoludek of Woolgoolga and Kristel O’Brien of Coffs Harbour.

4. GROUP D (The Greens): Jonathan Cassell of Emerald Beach, Tim Nott of Coffs Harbour, Eugenie Gerlach of Coffs Harbour, Elaine Sherwood of Coffs Harbour and Olivier La Mer-Adair of Coffs Harbour.

5. GROUP E (Independent): George Cecato of Korora (group lead), Jesse Young of Coffs Harbour, Jeffrey (Jack) Dix of Sawtell, Tiga Cross of Coffs Harbour, Matthew Culgan of Sawtell and Katherine Kistkow of Coffs Harbour.

6. GROUP F (Independent): Tegan Swan of Woolgoolga (group lead), Marcus Blackwell of Korora, Lucas Craig of Toormina, Lisa Nichols of Woolgoolga and Mel Browne of Emerald Beach.

7. GROUP G (Independent): Paul Amos of Coffs Harbour (group lead), Julie Sechi of Coffs Harbour, Scott Wolgamot of Coffs Harbour and Sally Townley of Bellingen.

8. GROUP H (Labor): Tony Judge of Woolgoolga (group lead), Htun Htun Oo of North Boambee Valley, Lealah Durow of Boambee, Glenis Hunter of Coramba and Danny Wilson of Nana Glen.

There are seven candidates in the Mayoral election.

Current Mayor Paul Amos is seeking re-election and is up against six of his fellow group leads, with the exception of GROUP C.

Bellingen Shire Council

1. GROUP A (Independent or unaffiliated): Steve Allan of Urunga (group lead), Eleanor Tree of Repton, Joanne Brotherton of Urunga, Andrew O’Keeffe of Raleigh, Linda Coomber of Urunga and Stephen Ryan of Urunga.

2. GROUP B (Independent or unaffiliated): Graeme Shephard of Dorrigo (group lead), Joanne Cook of Dorrigo, Cathryn McGuire of Dorrigo and Stephen Glyde of Bellingen.

3. GROUP C (The Greens): Dominic King of Kalang (group lead), Jennie Fenton of Bellingen, Alison Heeley of Bellingen and Wendy Firefly of Valery.

The mayoral race will be between two men who have held the position before; outgoing mayor Steve Allan and former mayor Dominic King.

Voting is compulsory for anyone over eighteen and registered on the electoral roll, and you cannot vote if you are not registered.

You can check if your details are up to date by going to the Australian Electoral Commission website.

By Sue STEPHENSON