Votes confirm three
Three candidates appear to be across the line in Baw Baw Shire Council elections with Danny Goss, Michael Leaney and Ben Lucas all achieving the quota of primary votes.
While the poll is not expected to be officially declared until Thursday, the three candidates have received strong voter support in their respective awards.
At the end of counting on Friday, sitting councillors Goss and Leaney look set to be returned to Central and East Wards respectively while Mr Lucas is likely to be elected in West Ward.
No results are known in the Cardinia Shire where nine councillors will be elected for nine wards under the preferential vote system.
Victorian Electoral Commission electoral manager Phillip Robinson said there were about 7000 more votes to be counted across the three Baw Baw wards.
He expects computer counts will conclude tomorrow afternoon with a poll declaration expected Thursday morning.
In Central Ward, there have been 9774 votes counted, which is 70 per cent of the 14,031 people enrolled to vote.
The figures show: Danny Goss 2983, Jazmin Tauru 1981, Joe Gauci 1739, Wayne Farnham 1722 and Farhat Firdous 1349.
In the East Ward, 8492 votes have been counted, representing 62 per cent of the 13,580 people enrolled.
The figures show: Michael Leaney 3065, Peter Kostos 1820, Darren Wallace 1257, Arfa Khan 729, Inge Mitchell 559, Graeme Hart 551 and Teresa Mitchell 511.
In the West ward, 9547 votes have been counted, representing 64 per cent of the 14,983 people enrolled.
The figures show: Ben Lucas 4303, Tricia Jones 1888, Keith Cook 1787 and Annemarie McCabe 1568.
When more than one person is to be elected for a ward, the VEC uses proportional counting to determine the elected councillors.
Three councillors will be elected in each of Baw Baw’s three wards.
To be elected, candidates must receive a proportion of votes known as a quota.
Any candidate who receives the quota is elected. Votes received over the quota are then passed on to other candidates according to voters’ preferences.
If no candidate achieves the quota, or if there are still vacancies after all the votes over the quota have been passed on, the candidate with the fewest votes is excluded. Their votes are passed on to other candidates according to voters’ preferences. The process is repeated until all vacancies are filled.
Immediate past mayor, Mr Goss admitted he was extremely nervous during the campaign.
“I had good indications from people who said I’d done a good job and would vote for me but you are never really sure.
“It meant a lot this time to be standing as the incumbent…it’s a vote of confidence that people are happy with the job I’ve done,” he said.
Mr Goss said he was grateful to the people who had voted for him and trusted him to do the job.
“You can’t please everyone but I certainly did the work throughout my term,” he said.
Mr Leaney said he was “completely blown away” by the support he received.
He said it was a “very, very positive result” to increase his primary vote from 14 per cent to 36 per cent.
“I think that primarily comes down to me being active and seen in all corners of the ward.
“People value councillors who get out there, talk to them and get things done,” he said.
Mr Leaney said the strong vote gave him a very strong mandate that everywhere, including small towns and remote communities were important.
Mr Lucas has confidently claimed victory in the West Ward, saying he usually wouldn’t, but the vote was resounding.
“I expected to win and that’s why I wanted to go to election with more than three candidates.
“But I never expected 45 per cent of the primary vote,” he said.
Mr Lucas said he campaigned strongly on local issues including traff ic in Drouin and representation for Longwarry.
He said he was already entrenched in the community so people had confidence to vote for him.
Mr Lucas said he loved new experiences and couldn’t wait to begin work as a councillor.