5 November 2008

An independent observation team set up to monitor the central counting of ballot papers during the September local government elections has delivered its report.

The Observation Team included representatives from the Victorian Electoral Commission, the NSW Department of Local Government and the Local Government and Shires Association.

“The purpose of establishing the Observation Team was to give candidates, registered political parties and members of the public confidence in the integrity, effectiveness and efficiency of our centralised counting process,” said NSW Electoral Commissioner Colin Barry.

“While most council elections were counted locally by election officials, 1.3 million ballot papers with complex above and below the line voting were transferred to the NSWEC’s central count centre at Riverwood in Sydney.

“The centralised count actually improved the efficiency of distributing multiple preferences under the complex proportional representation count.”

The Observation Team was given six terms of reference to report against, including preparations for the count, operational layout, security and management of the count centre.

The report found that the process was “extremely well managed, open and transparent at all times with little opportunity for errors to occur”.

Mr Barry said he was aware of comment at the time by a small number of councils that the counting process was too slow, despite the final count finishing three days ahead of schedule.

“Despite some ill-informed reports, there was no delay in the count but the Observation Team has noted that we need to communicate the role of the counting centre more clearly to both candidates and councils so they understand the process much better.”

“I will be incorporating the recommendations into our future planning and communication strategies.”

The Report on Observation of NSW Electoral Commission Central Vote Count is available at www.elections.nsw.gov.au/media

Media Contact: Adrian Kerr, NSW Electoral Commission

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