Preliminary Council Election Results and Next Steps

Saturday 4th December saw residential and non-residential electors in the Yass Valley voting to fill nine Councillor positions on the Yass Valley Council.

The following are preliminary results as at 6am Monday 6th December 2021. One hundred percent of the hard-copy formal votes had been counted:

However, the results will not be formally announced until the 23rd December 2021. This is because the return of completed postal vote certificates closes on the 17th December, and the distribution of preferences are conducted and progressive declaration of results occurs on the 21st December 2021.

It also appears the NSW Electoral Commission has some untangling of the iVote system to do. The Commission discovered that some iVote users were unable to gain access to the system to vote on the 4th December due to the increased volume of people using the iVote system.

The Local Government Act was amended earlier this year to allow iVote for the first time at council elections, in response to the challenges of COVID-19.

At the 2019 NSW State elections 234,401 votes were cast using iVote. At close of applications at 1pm on the 4th December 652,983 votes had been cast using the system since it opened on 22 November.

Any eligible elector who applied to use iVote on the 4th December but missed out on voting will be excused from paying any penalty. The Electoral Commissioner may also determine, after the elections have finished, that other categories of electors should be excused for having a sufficient reason.

The Commission apologised to any voters unable to gain access to the system due to these issues. A full report on the conduct of the election is required by legislation to be released on their website by May 2022.

• Topics:

• Elections
• Local Council