TWEED Shire voters will decide today who will represent them for the next four years when they cast their ballot in the local government election.

Whatever voters decide, Tweed is assured of a new-look representative body with two members of the outgoing council opting not to seek re-election.

The other five outgoing councillors are among a field of 76 candidates - 15 groups and four individuals - seeking to secure one of the seven seats on the council.

Residents will also decide today if they want to increase the number of councillors from seven to nine from 2020 with a Constitutional Referendum to be held in conjunction with the election.

New South Wales Electoral Commission returning officer Pamela Costello said she is prepared for a hectic few days with polling booths open from 8am and the counting of votes to commence as soon as the booths close at 6pm.

"It will be busy,” she said.

"The pre-polling numbers have been a little down on projections but things have picked up towards the end of the week.

"You can't really predict what is going to happen but everything is working well.”

NSW Electoral Commission spokesman Richard Carroll said a decision should be known before the end of next week.

"First preferences will be counted on election night but postal votes don't close until Monday and preference distributions won't be run until the Tuesday morning,” he said.

"We would expect to have a decision some time in the week after the election.”

Voters will be able to access one of 28 polling booths spread around the shire with 132 staff appointed to man the venues.

The election was originally slated for September 10 but was rescheduled following the death of candidate Ken Nicholson.

Mr Carroll said that delay could have an impact on voter turnout today.

Almost 78% of registered voters cast their ballot in the 2012 Tweed Shire Council election but Mr Carroll said it was impossible to forecast how many voters would line up today to have their say.

"We'll just have to wait and see,” he said.

Voting is compulsory for individuals recorded on the electoral roll. The penalty for not voting is $55.