Division 7 by-election voting count continues

Preferences hold the key to a result in the Moreton Bay Regional Council Division 7 by-election.

Electoral Commission Queensland paused counting votes late last week, ahead of the deadline for postal votes on December 14.

A spokesperson for the electoral commission says the result in the by-election can only be declared once the outcome is certain.

“To achieve this, a full preference count must be undertaken to allocate the preferences of candidates,” the spokesperson says.

“Due to the margin between candidates, this cannot be finalised until after the 10 day return period for postal ballots, which is Tuesday, 14 December.”

Counting continues

The electoral commission received 3136 postal vote applications and 8611 – or 32.95 percent of the electorate - had voted ahead of the official polling day on December 4.

By today, votes had been counted for 63.1 percent of enrolled electors – 94.99 percent of them formal votes and 5.01 percent declared informal and therefore ineligible to be added to candidates’ tallies.

At the time of publishing, former Pine Rivers Shire councillor Yvonne Barlow lead the tally for the official first preference count, with 26.62 percent of votes, followed by Brett Hayes (22.48 percent), Dean Teasdale (16.10 percent, Ryan Bakker (15.86 percent), Ben Wood (13.39 percent) and Jacqui Findlay (5.55 percent).

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