NSW Local Council Elections will take place on Saturday, 10 September 2016.

However, due the council amalgamation process only 81 NSW councils are having elections.

All remaining councils, including those that have been amalgamated, have had their elections deferred until 2017.

This situation has the potential to cause confusion among some electors, particularly those who live, or are enrolled, in areas not conducting elections, bordering councils that are.

Electors may turn up to a pre-poll voting centre or at a polling place on election day only to be told they don’t need to vote.

Apart from the understandable frustration this may cause it also diverts polling place resources from those electors who do need to vote.

Alternately, some electors may incorrectly assume they do not need to vote.

As voting is compulsory in areas where elections are being held this will result in them receiving a penalty notice for not voting.

If an elector’s enrolment details are out of date their details may not match their current address.

Anyone who is uncertain where they are enrolled should visit www.votensw.info to check their enrolment details and look up their enrolled street address to see if they need to vote.

In order to assist inform electors whether they need to vote at these elections maps are available to illustrate electoral boundaries for the new Central Coast and Mid-Coast Council areas and the pending council areas of Dungog-Maitland and Newcastle-Port Stephens. Maps are available for download at: http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/media/maps_-_councils_with_deferred_elections

Information about the status of council mergers, including which councils are newly amalgamated and which are pending is available at https://www.strongercouncils.nsw.gov.au/.