City of Melbourne Elections 2024
Client: City of Melbourne
Role: Independent Consulting Partner via AlgoRhythm Consulting
Sector: Elections & Democracy, Government
The Challenge
The City of Melbourne needed to prepare for the 2024 Victorian Local Government Elections, aiming to improve voter participation, meet governance obligations, and deliver an accessible, inclusive electoral process.
Past reviews have shown that the underlying challenges were operational not just technical, requiring a thoughtful reimagining of processes before adding new digital tools.
Manual interventions, fragmented data, and non-integrated systems had previously made election delivery resource-intensive. Without rethinking these workflows, new technology would only add complexity and not solve the root issues.
Our Approach
AlgoRhythm Consulting was engaged to advise the City in designing and delivering an evidence-led, people-centred elections service offering — one that focused on:
Operational redesign
Voter experience improvement
Governance and compliance alignment
Scalable, future-ready improvements
Key steps included:
Evidence-Led Mandate
We grounded the work in historical operational insights captured in the Discovery process . A Case for Change was put forward to the Executive which identified pain points experienced in prior elections and framed a clear case for operational change.
Service and Systems Design
Hannah applied service design principles and user journey mapping techniques to co-design better voter pathways, working closely with internal teams and stakeholders.
This included developing:
Voter profiles reflecting legislative categories,
Communication strategies targeting diverse voter groups, and
Training plans for election support staff.
Multi-Stream Program Management
We structured the work across six coordinated streams:
Digital enhancements
Voter roll accuracy
Strategic communications
Customer service uplift
Community outreach and engagement
Governance and compliance
These streams aligned to legal timelines, operational standards, and the City’s broader obligations under Victorian local government law.
Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Focus
Recognising budget and technology constraints, we scoped all digital improvements to MVP — ensuring feasible, realistic enhancements that delivered measurable gains without requiring large-scale system overhauls.
Results and Impact
The program achieved:
Record voter turnout: 97,804 voters, marking a +3,000 increase over 2020 and +23,000 since 2016.
Unique achievement: City of Melbourne was the only Metro 9 council to experience voter growth while others declined.
Improved service experience: Voters were better supported across enrolment, entitlement management, and communication touchpoints, including multi-lingual resources and digital tools.
Operational and legal compliance: Met all key electoral deadlines, governance obligations, and resource efficiency targets.
Why It Matters
This wasn’t just an operational upgrade — it was about strengthening democratic participation and civic trust.
By aligning service design, operational change, and governance excellence, the City of Melbourne showed how local governments can deliver meaningful, inclusive services under real-world constraints.
As an independent consulting partner, AlgoRhythm was proud to bring its expertise in:
Service design,
Program governance,
Change delivery, and
An evidence-driven strategy to support this transformational public service achievement.
Note on Role Attribution
All activities described here reflect Algorhythm’s external consulting services and advisory contributions to the City of Melbourne.
We do not speak on behalf of the City, nor do we disclose internal or non-public records, system data, or official decisions. This summary is prepared solely for public domain use, sharing learning insights from the project’s high-level outcomes.
About AlgoRhythm Consulting
Hannah Europe-Finner
Led by Hannah Europe-Finner, AlgoRhythm Consulting helps organisations navigate complexity, embed meaningful change, and improve community outcomes. With deep expertise across government, healthcare, and civic services, we partner with purpose-driven teams to deliver real impact.
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