Monday 30th: The verdict!
Preferences were allocated today and the composition of the new Council has been determined.
Group B candidate Thomas O'Keefe of Hawks Nest was elected on the 53rd and final count/exclusion step of the preference allocation process.
Other candidates elected were as earlier predicted:
Group A (IND): Peter Howard, Forster [step 1]
Group C (IND): Jeremy Miller, Old Bar [step 1]
Group D (ALP): Claire Pointin, Red Head {step1] Digby Wilson, Taree [step 53]
Group E (IND): Alan Tickle, Taree [step 1]; Nicole Turnbull, Wootton [Step 53]
Group G (Libertarian): Michael Graham, Mooral Creek [Step 1]; Phillip Beazley, Smiths Lake [Step 2]; Hugh (Mal) McKenzie, Langley Vale [Step 53]
Group I (GRN): possible 1 Dheeraa Smith, Mondrook [Step 53]
So six candidates were elected at steps 1 & 2 of the count.
The remain five were declared elected (without reaching a quota) after Karen Hutchinson of Booral was eliminated at step 53. Karen Hutchinson was the candidate who appears to have suffered most from the high number of "below the line" votes that were declared informal - particularly at Stroud, Stroud Road and Booral.
Stephen Smith, Elizabeth McEntire and John Sayoun would also have been affected but to a lesser extent. McEntire was eliminated at step 48, John Sahyoun was eliminated at step 47 and Stephen Smith at step 49. Emma Mellows (Group F) was eliminated at step 51.
So several "local" candidates were not too far from being elected. Less informals and more strategic voting by those in the southern part of MidCoast may have even seen a second local candidate elected.
Informal voting - below the line problems
The overall informal vote percentages dropped to 9.45%. That drop was largely thanks to an informal rate of just 3% for postal votes.
Very high levels of informal voting occurred in areas where there were greater number of electors trying to vote below the line. The three highest informal counts were at
- Stroud Rd Public 22.4%,
- Stroud Public 18.2% and
- Booral Public at 16.3%.
Bulahdelah School was not far behind with an informal rate of 14.9%.
The proportions of formal first preference votes gained by ungrouped candidates at these four locations were
- Stroud Rd Public 29%,
- Stroud Public 34%,
- Booral Public 34%.
- Bulahdelah School 46%.
Being one of the ungrouped candidates clearly puts you at a significant disadvantage. Voting [1] above the line is simple. Voting below the line is not. Were the how-to-vote instructions given to voters at these locations insufficient? It would seem so. I suspect many of those informal votes either included numbers both below and above the line, or did not include numbers for enough candidates below the line.
