All the votes for a new council have now been cast - and it looks likely to be a bumper turnout. The Victorian Electoral Commission reports a large number of voters across the state - "around the 76 per cent mark or higher", according to a press release on Friday. In Ballarat, it is shaping up to be higher still - with the previous tally for the 2016 elections almost certain to be exceeded.

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As of Friday morning, there had already been 65,528 ballot papers received. If all ballot papers are valid (which is highly unlikely) that would make up more than 77 per cent of the 84,694 eligible voters enrolled for the City of Ballarat at the cut-off deadline in August.

Thousands more ballots are likely to be en route via Australia Post or have been dropped off in person on the final day of voting.

Election office staff are now going through the laborious process of weeding out the invalid ballots, which will inevitably be among the mountains of envelopes before them. This would affect the total turnout.

In 2016, this averaged at slightly more than 75 per cent, with the highest turnout registered in the North Ward and the lowest in the Central Ward.

While voting is compulsory, with fines issued for those who fail to vote in time, the turnout for local elections is usually significantly lower than for federal and state elections.

Only residents are obliged to vote, while property owners who are enrolled but do not live in the municipality do not have to.

Around 10 per cent of enrolments are believed to be in that category across the state, although The Courier is unaware of the exact percentage in Ballarat. Anecdotally, the Central Ward is said to have more non-residents, who historically have been less likely to take part in the local elections.

And what of the next steps? When will residents in Ballarat find out who the three councillors representing their ward will be, and the make-up of the nine-person council that will shape the direction of the city over the next four years?

Firstly, there will be a wait. As this is a postal vote, and the deadline for posting was the final clearance on Friday, officials will need to wait for all the ballot papers at the Learmonth Street election office. The cut-off time for them to arrive is at noon on Friday October 30.

There will also be a lot of data entry. All the ballot papers and their mix of candidate preferences will need to be manually processed onto a computerised system to allow for the results to be calculated. Such are the complications and nuances of the proportional system used in local government elections that the process has been automated.

In Ballarat, all the ballot papers are expected to be uploaded by November 4. Results should be able to be calculated immediately, but will first need to be submitted to the Victorian Electoral Commission head office before they can be declared.

It is not yet clear how quickly this will happen after all the ballot papers have been processed.

The final date for all declarations is November 13, but given those timings in Ballarat, results should come through well before that if all goes according to plan.

The format of the declaration has also not yet been confirmed. While they normally take place publicly, this has not been a normal election period. Social distancing may prevent public declarations. This is most likely in Melbourne municipalities, but the same constraints could apply in regional areas too.

Once declarations have been made, results will be published to the VEC website at vec.vic.gov.au, as well as on Twitter (@electionsvic) and by media release.

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