Port Stephen's local member, Kate Washington, was returned to the NSW Parliament at Saturday's State election (23 March 2019). Although counting is (as of 24 March) not yet complete it appears there was a swing of between one and two percent towards her. This has lifted the two-party preferred vote across the electorate to almost 58%.
At the North Arm Cove voting centre Ms Washington topped the first preference votes with 45% at this election compared to 38% and second place in 2015.
The swing to Kate Washington in terms of the "two-party-preferred" count at the North Arm Cove booth was over 8%. The total number of votes cast at the local booth was marginally down last Saturday compared to the previous two elections.
Concerns were raised during the election campaign regarding fake social media accounts created in an attempt to discredit Ms Washington. It appears those attempts were, if anything, counter-productive.
