Election counting results on schedule
17 September 2008
More than half the mayoral elections and locally counted council elections have been decided in counting conducted by the NSW Electoral Commission.As of 5pm today, 22 of the 27 mayoral elections are known and 48 of the 74 local proportional representational counts conducted by local returning officers have been finalised.
Mayoral positions have been finalised where the candidate already has an absolute majority of more than 50 per cent of the vote and is in an unassailable position, including:
Ballina, Bellingen, Byron, Canterbury, Canada Bay, Cessnock, Coffs Harbour, Fairfield, Griffith, Hornsby, Lake Macquarie, Lismore, Maitland, Nambucca, Newcastle, North Sydney, Queanbeyan, Sydney and Willoughby.
Mayoral counts for Manly, Eurobodalla, Warringah, Greater Taree, Hunters Hill, Shoalhaven and Liverpool are continuing. Botany Bay was uncontested and the Broken Hill, Port Macquarie-Hastings and Wollongong mayoral elections were deferred as those councils remain under administration.
Where a mayoral result is already known, the Returning Officers have turned their attention to counting the councillor ballot papers.
More than one million ballot papers with above and below the line voting have been delivered to the Local Government Counting Centre at Riverwood to await final preferential counting where more than a single preference has been marked.
“The proportional representation counting system is far too complex to count manually on such a large scale. Centralising the count for particular ballot papers ensures the process is more efficient, removes human error and therefore delivers the results faster,” said NSW Electoral Commissioner Colin Barry.
Mr Barry urged candidates and the media to be patient with the electoral process which is conducted in a highly legal environment.
“We have thousands of election officials working simultaneously across the State to bring these elections to an end. That includes 200 data entry staff working two shifts a day over the next two weeks to make sure the results are finalised as quickly as possible for 165 election contests in 66 council areas, including those elections in wards.
“The distribution of preferences commenced today at Riverwood and will be on-going until preferences are distributed in all the remaining council areas between now and Friday, 26 September.
The schedule for the Local Government Counting Centre is available at www.elections.nsw.gov.au and is updated twice daily to include those distributions that will take place over a rolling 48 hour period.
Media Contact: Adrian Kerr, NSW Electoral Commission
(02) 9290 5954 adrian.kerr@elections.nsw.gov.au