An error in vote-counting software may be responsible for Griffith councillor Alison Balind being elected at the 2012 council election instead of Ms Mercuri.

Academics from the University of Melbourne, in conjunction with researchers from the Australian National University, recomputed the NSW local government elections of 2012 and found a software glitch caused Ms Mercuri’s probability of winning plummet from a near certainty to just 10 per cent.

Cr Balind said she got a call from acting NSW electoral commissioner (NSWEC) Linda Franklin last Friday night about it.

“She explained the situation about the research and the problem with the (software) code,” Cr Balind said. 

“There was a probability Rina could have been the winner. 

“A handful of votes separated us and if she had been elected I would have been happy for her, she’s very community-minded and I hope people like her put their hands up at the next election.”

When the NSWEC was told about the glitch, the software was corrected and tested, according to Ms Franklin.

“The commission has contacted the successful and unsuccessful candidates who ran in Griffith and has apologised for the error,” Ms Franklin said. 

“While the error is regrettable the deadline for challenges to the election passed three months after the election.”

According to study lead co-author Vanessa Teague, Griffith was the only council in NSW where the glitch made a big difference.

“If there was no bug Rina would have been elected with 91 per cent probability,” Professor Teague said.

The problem, according to Professor Teague, was in preference distribution. When a candidate is elected their preferences are distributed by randomly selecting the excess ballots but at the ‘last parcel’ stage, the votes were miscounted.

“We believe the software error incorrectly decreased Ms Mercuri's winning probability to about 10 per cent,” Professor Teague said.

Ms Mercuri was unable to be reached for comment.