90 voters that were disenfranchised in Glen Innes Severn’s council election in September will again be ignored today.
As New England Times continues our investigation into the failure of the NSW electoral system to do its one job, we can reveal that 90 of 6,756 votes cast on September 14 – 1.3% of the vote – that were deemed informal could have been counted.
The compromised vote data set from Glen Innes Severn will be used again today, when the NSW Electoral Commission conducts a countback to replace former Mayor Rob Banham. Banham quit Council entirely in a rather unedifying sulk after failing to retain the mayoral role last month, mere days after being re-elected.
The cost of the countback or by-election is borne by the Council. The countback is vastly cheaper than the alternative (understood to be around $10,000 instead of $200,000 or more for a by-election), which is why it is preferred by most Councils.
The countback is not a simple selection of the person with the next highest votes; the race is recounted as though the departing Councillor was never on the ballot paper at all. This means that all 1555 votes Banham received will be reallocated to which ever candidate was numbered ‘2’, and the entire distribution of preferences run again.
While the difference in the votes counted by the NSW Electoral Commission is unlikely to have changed the result to the Council’s original line up, it may make a difference in the countback.
Both Anne Vosper and David Scott have nominated to be included in today’s countback election. No new candidates are allowed in a countback. On election day, Vosper received 251 voters, and David Scott 239, a margin of just 12 votes. Amongst the 90 votes incorrectly in the informal pile which should have been counted, two of which should have been attributed to Vosper, and four to Scott, meaning the actual first preference margin between the two candidates was 10 votes.
The results of the Glen Innes Severn countback will be published this morning shortly after 11am.
It is one of half a dozen countback or by-elections already required by councils, with some failing to attract enough nominations to fill the seats, councillors in Shoalhaven and Midwestern Regional councils unable to take their seats due to ill health, and former Mayor of Bathurst Jess Jenkins resigning after losing the mayoralty in a similar dummy-spit to Banham.
Top image: Glen Innes Town Hall (Sera J Wright; New England Times)
Read the other parts of this investigation
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