Waiting game continues for official declaration
LOCAL ELECTION
The waiting game for a result in the local election continues as candidates and the Shire eagerly wait for the official declaration from the Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ).
Results have been slowly trickling in to the ECQ website since Saturday’s election with the preliminary vote giving Michael Kerr 55.05 per cent of the vote to incumbent mayor Julia Leu’s 44.95 per cent.
The official count is still underway and results could come in at any moment, however, the ECQ said due to the unusually high numbers of postal votes across the state (570,000) it may be necessary to await the return, scrutiny, and counting of postal votes in order to officially declare the outcome of close contests.
The deadline for the return of postal votes is 7 April.
Extra social distancing and safety measures for counters have also been implemented for this election.
“As a result of these operational adjustments, it is likely that it will take longer for results to be declared,” the ECQ said.
A spokesperson for the ECQ confirmed that a total of 6228 people of the 8304 enrolled, voted in the Douglas Shire.
The ECQ website states currently 6042 votes have been counted in the preliminary count with Mr Kerr 598 votes ahead of Ms Leu.
Based on the numbers provided it would appear the final count will be in Mr Kerr’s favour.
The official count for the councillor race is also still ongoing, however, the preliminary results have two newcomers in the lead.
Lisa Scomazzon with 3792 votes and Peter McKeown on 3405 votes, followed by incumbent councillors Roy Zammataro on 3055 votes, and Abigail Noli with 2834 votes.
Follow the current results on the ECQ website.
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