A date for the Werriwa By-Election will be determined after the Speaker of the House of Representatives, David Hawker, formally receives Mr Latham's resignation letter. There is no constitutional or statutory requirement that writs be issued for a by-election within any prescribed period. The guiding principle though has been to hold the election as early as possible so that electors are not left without representation any longer than is necessary. For further information see the By-Election Overview.

A by-election timetable is determined by the Constitution and the Commonwealth Electoral Act.1918  The Act sets a minimum election period of 33 days and a maximum period of 58 days.

Event	Min. and max. period	Werriwa By-Election
Issue of writ A writ commands an electoral officer to hold an election and contains dates for the close of rolls, close of nominations, polling day and the return of the writ. (Constitution s.12, 32) (the Act s.151)	> 0-10 days	Monday, 14 February 2005
Close of rolls Electors have until 8pm, seven days after the writs are issued to enrol or update their details on the Commonwealth electoral roll (the Act s.155)	7-17 days	8pm Monday, 21 February 2005
Close of nominations It is not possible to nominate as a candidate for election until the writs have been issued. Candidates must nominate by 12 noon on the date specified on the writs as close of nominations (the Act s.156)	10-37 days	12 noon Thursday, 24 February 2005
Declaration of nominations The public announcement of nominations received followed by a draw for positions on the ballot paper, 24 hours after the close of nominations (the Act s.176)	11-38 days	12 noon Friday, 25 February 2005
Polling day The day on which the majority of electors cast their vote at a polling place. It must be a Saturday and at least 33 days after the issue of the writs (the Act s.157)	33-68 days	8am to 6pm Saturday, 19 March 2005
Return of writ For the by-election, the Electoral Commission endorses on the writ the name of the candidate elected and returns the writs to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Writs must be returned within 100 days of their issue.	110 days	by Wednesday, 25 May 2005