One Nation’s Jennifer Leayr, a 19-year-old university student who works part time in Singleton has decided to throw her hat in the ring, while Bulga father of six, Wayne Riley, has also put his hand up for selection as the Christian Democratic Party candidate.

A draw was held on Friday to determine the order of those on the ballot paper with Greens candidate Chris Parker taking the top spot.

Ms Leayr is in second spot while the incumbent Joel Fitzgibbon, Labor, is third.

Mr Riley is fourth and in fifth position is Scone’s Michael Johnsen for The Nationals.

The AEC website states that at a federal election you elect members to represent you in the two houses that make up the federal parliament – the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The Hunter electorate covers approximately 20,111 square kilometres from Maitland in the east to Cassilis in the west, Murrurundi in the north and south to Wollombi.

For the House of Representatives, Australia is divided into 150 areas called electorates. You vote for one member of parliament to represent your electorate.

For the Senate, each state has 12 senators and the territories (NT and ACT) each have two. You vote for senators to represent your whole state or territory.

For federal elections you will receive two ballot papers, a green paper for the House of Representatives and a white paper for the Senate.

On the green ballot paper you need to number every box in order of your preference.

On the white ballot paper you can choose one of two ways to vote. You can put a number ‘1’ in a box above the black line for the party or group of your choice, or you can fill in every box below the black line in order of your preference.

If you don’t complete the ballot papers correctly your vote won’t be counted.

The Hunter’s divisional returning officer is Kathleen Gleeson at Greenhills.

Visit www.aec.gov.au for more details.