Griffith's election count has resumed updating after a slow start to the week, but the results for the referendum are still in the balance.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The count for the Griffith City Council election has kicked off again, with almost 6000 votes counted. The new numbers haven't changed any of the positions though, lining up with the already-known polls.
Doug Curran's group has passed the 30 per cent mark, holding 1519 of first preference votes. Close behind is Anne Napoli's ticket with 779 or 16 per cent of the counted votes. While good on paper, the longer ticket means that per person, the 'above the line' votes mean that many individuals are low on the first preference list.
Of the two campaigns pushing voters to vote above the line, just Anne Napoli and Chris Sutton have broken past the one percent line. Comparatively, the ungrouped candidates are doing well with Jenny Ellis holding 206 votes and Rina Mercuri holding 167. Behind them is Michael Crump with 125 and Robert Campbell with 23.
Manjit Lally and Dino Zappacosta are doing well in the polls, hovering around the five per cent mark. Mr Zappacosta currently holds 228 votes, just one ahead of Simon Croce. Mr Lally is not far behind with 212 first preference votes.
Mr Lally said he was pleased, but that we would have to wait and see for the final votes.
"I'm pretty confident we'll get in, pretty much happy with that. Not happy with the informal votes though," he said.
"I think people didn't understand the system, people didn't understand how to vote this year with the lines. People were confused, and nobody can teach them how it works."
RELATED:
The informal vote rate in Griffith currently sits at 22 per cent, much higher than the average Australian rate of 5 per cent. Mr Lally was hoping to see less in the future.
"It is a very big number of informal votes. If we want to start any new systems, we have to make sure we educate people on how to do it properly. No more informal or invalid votes."
Meanwhile, the count on the referendum answers have not yet begun to be counted.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.areanews.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and daily headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram