Be prepared: Queensland's election-day voters face long queues

Other wards to watch include Paddington, Enoggera, Morningside, The Gabba and Calamvale, where the current councillors hold on with narrow margins.

On the Gold Coast, there is one division to watch.

Incumbent councillor Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden is seeking re-election for division seven while facing a murder charge.

He is accused of killing his stepfather, Robert Malcolm Lumsden, 58, at the family’s Arundel home in August.

Bayldon-Lumsden says the state government endorsed his candidacy despite a coming trial for the murder charge.

“It’s up to the voters now who they want as their representative,” he said on Friday.

But rival candidates and the state member for Bonney have taken a dim view.

“If he really cared about the community, he would not have put his hand up with an unresolved murder charge,” LNP MP Sam O’Connor said.

O’Connor said if the incumbent is re-elected, it will likely result in another suspension, similar to what occurred six months ago when the charge was laid.

Premier Steven Miles on Friday told reporters Bayldon-Lumsden would be “suspended again given the circumstances” if re-elected.

Candidates Joe Wilkinson and Jenna Schroeder criticised Bayldon-Lumsden for running again, considering the council area has been without elected representation for six months.

Elsewhere, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate is seeking re-election for a fourth time, but he faces eight challengers.

Mayors and councillors are up for election across Queensland’s 77 local governments, but some voters will receive only one option on the ballot as some candidates run unopposed.

Today’s local council elections take place alongside two state government byelections – in Inala and Ipswich West – after the respective members, former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Jim Madden, resigned.

–AAP