By Aaron Cordy
VOTING in the local council elections came to a close on Friday, October 25, with all registered voters needing to have placed their completed voter forms into the mail before that date with early results released by the electoral commission.
As of Thursday, October 31, there are some clear front runners in a few seats, while others will come down to the wire. In both the Poplar and Midland Wards, Sam Spinks and Rod Schubert were elected unopposed. Amongst the other seven Greater Shepparton wards, the number of candidates means percentages don’t tell the full story about how close the race was run.
Sitting Mayor Cr Shane Sali leads the Balaclava Ward with 76.30 per cent. McEwen Ward has Steven Threlfall as another clear front-runner with 61.32 per cent of the vote. Kieron Eddy sits well in front in the Lower Goulburn Ward with 46.44 per cent of the vote. Geoff Akers had the farmer votes in Pine Lodge Ward, with 50.16 per cent.
Yanha Gurtji Ward is a closer race with Fern Summer in front with 41.21 per cent of the vote. Paul Wickham leads the Goulburn River Ward with 31.35 per cent. The Kialla Ward is the tightest race for the council election, with Anthony Brophy on 34.86 per cent, sitting in front of Terri Cowley on 32.65 per cent of the vote.
While the Victorian Electoral Commission is busy counting votes, they are not as busy as they should be, with each ward missing a staggering number of votes. Each ward has between 4,800 and 5,400 registered voters. But not one ward had more than 65 per cent of its registered voters actually voting by the cut-off date. This percentage includes informal or ‘donkey’ votes. That means thousands of people across Greater Shepparton did not vote.
This begs the question, why didn’t they vote? The answer may not be as straight forward as it appears, but the non-voters will have the opportunity to explain themselves next year when they are issued fines.
Vote counting continues today, Wednesday, November 6, with the full result to be announced on Monday, November 11.
