24 September 2008

Counting in the Local Government elections has finished three days ahead of schedule, with 1344 councillors and 28 mayors elected to office for the next four years.

The NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC) conducted 332 individual elections in more than 140 council areas across the State, including mayoral elections, referendums and polls.

“This has been an outstanding result given the complexity of the proportional representation system that in many council areas allows the voter to mark more than one preference above or below the line,” said NSW Electoral Commissioner Colin Barry.

Mr Barry said he was aware of criticism by a small number of councils that the counting process was too slow.

“Our job is to distribute preferences accurately to reduce the likelihood of a recount and to do so within realistic timeframes instead of the arbitrary deadlines set by some commentators.

“We were able to speed up the counting process considerably by transferring 1.3m ballot papers to our Riverwood counting centre where a specially designed computer programme distributed multiple preferences for the more complex ballot papers.”

“There has been no delay. In fact we finished the entire count three days earlier than our published deadline of Friday, 26 September. Unfortunately people become frustrated while they wait for results despite our best efforts to manage those expectations.”

As of last night, the NSWEC had completed all council, mayoral, referendum and poll counts. A recount was held for Leeton A Ward but did not change the result. A recount is still underway in Manly at cost to the candidate and a Greens candidate in Tweed will decide today whether to pay for a recount which the NSWEC believes is unnecessary.

In an Australian first, Mr Barry established an observation team before the election to oversee the integrity and security of the Riverwood counting centre. The team includes representatives from the Victorian Electoral Commission, the Local Government and Shires Association and Department of Local Government.

“Its findings will be released as part of the individual reports we are preparing for each council on the conduct of their election.”

Media Contact: Adrian Kerr, NSW Electoral Commission

(02) 9290 5954    adrian.kerr@elections.nsw.gov.au