Next year’s Maranoa Regional Council local government election will be held earlier than planned.
On the advice of the Electoral Commission of Queensland, Cabinet has approved to bring forward the date of the 2024 local government election.
It will now be held on Saturday, 26 March 2024.
The election was previously due to be scheduled for Saturday, 30 March 2024, which is Easter Saturday next year and the first weekend of the school holidays.
“During the school holiday periods, many Queenslanders take holidays to other parts of Queensland, interstate and overseas,” Deputy Premier and Minister for Local Government, Steven Miles said.
“This would likely see a significant increase in postal and telephone votes, potentially creating delays to declaring election results.”
A similar situation happened in 2016, and the date was moved to be the week prior.
“This date will support Queenslanders, councillors and candidates to plan for the election campaign and voting day,” Mr Miles said.
