Counting underway for council elections
by Yvette Brand Counting of votes in local government elections is underway but results are not expected to be known until next week.
Voting in the Baw Baw and Cardinia Shire elections closed on Friday.
Seventy-two per cent of votes had been received for Baw Baw Shire by Friday.
Of the 42,594 voters on the electoral rolls, 30,669 votes were received by the end of Friday.
Victorian Electoral Commission election manager officer Phillip Robinson said he expected a further 5000 votes in yesterday’s mail and more votes throughout the week.
The extraction of votes process for the Central ward began yesterday. Counting officers were required to separate the signed declarations from envelopes before ballot papers were removed from envelopes.
Every ballot paper is then entered into the computer for a proportional count.
This process will be conducted for the three wards throughout the week and continue early next week.
Scrutineers are present throughout the extraction and vote counting processes.
Mr Robinson said he did not expect any results would be known until next Wednesday afternoon at the earliest.
As of yesterday, the Central Ward had the highest voter turnout with 76.5 per cent of votes received while 70 per cent of West Ward votes had been received and 68.8 per cent in the East Ward.
Voting papers were distributed to residents between October 6 and October 8.
In the first week of voting, 27 per cent cast their votes in Central Ward, 29 per cent in West Ward and 21 per cent in East Ward.
Less than three per cent of people voted in the first four days in the Central and East wards while 6.6 per cent of early voters turned out in the West Ward.
There are 16 candidates vying for election to the nine councillor vacancies in Baw Baw Shire. Three councillors will be elected in each of the three wards.
In the Central Ward, candidates in ballot paper order are Jazmin Tauru, Danny Goss, Joe Gauci, Wayne Farnham and Farhat Firdous.
East ward attracted the biggest field with seven candidates in ballot paper order being Peter Kostos, Michael Leaney, Teresa Mitchell, Graeme Hart, Inge Mitchell, Arfa Khan and Darren Wallace.
In the West Ward, the four candidates in ballot paper order include Benjamin Lucas, Tricia Jones, Annemarie McCabe and Keith Cook.
In Cardinia Shire, there are eight vacancies with one councillor to be elected in each ward.
The two wards covering Bunyip to Nar Nar Goon and south to Catani and Yannathan are Bunyip and Westernport wards.
Candidates for Bunyip Ward in ballot paper order are Chris Andrews, Graeme Moore, Sharon Verschaeren and Kylie Hamilton.
In Westernport Ward, the candidates include Ray Brown, Siegfried Rehburg and Kaye Cameron.