QLD local gov. elections a mess!
AMM 29.03.20.
Up to 800,000 Queenslanders who were eligible to vote in one of the 77 local government elections, and two by-elections held this weekend may not have voted. The 77-78 per cent voter turnout fell well short of the 2016 local government election, in which 83 per cent of voters cast a ballot. The figures provided to the ABC by the Electoral Commission Queensland (ECQ) were:
• 3.3 million voters were eligible
• Around 1.2 million voted at a pre-poll
• 570,000 people applied for a postal vote — there’s no indication yet how many of these were returned
• 750,000 voters turned out on the day. And the band played on, and on!
Queensland elections counts drag on, plagued by 'technical' issues
By Allyson Horn and Stephanie Zillman Updated yesterday at 2:50pm
PHOTO: A man in a face mask placing his vote into a ballot box. Cairns voter Ben Canty came prepared to the polling station. (ABC News: Brendan Mounter)
Queensland's electoral commissioner says the technical issues experienced during the count for yesterday's local government elections are "unacceptable".
Pat Vidgen said more than 1,000,000 votes were counted on Saturday, but problems with the "data feed" meant votes were not uploaded to the Electoral Commission of Queensland website in real-time.
"We're very disappointed with that outcome," he said.
"The counting happened and the counting was accurate.
"I can assure you all the votes that were received yesterday were counted … it was a data feed issue unfortunately which meant the website didn't display them.
"We contacted all candidates and scrutineers and allowed them into the booths … So they could at least see what was happening."
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was "pretty disappointed" by the bungle.
"They've got one job … to make sure they can run an election," she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said it was not clear what went wrong but promised it would be investigated.
"I'll get a full briefing … tomorrow, but there will be a full review into it," she said.
The delays followed reports that up to 800,000 Queenslanders who were eligible to vote in one of the 77 local government elections, and two by-elections held this weekend, may not have voted.
The 77-78 per cent voter turnout fell well short of the 2016 local government election, in which 83 per cent of voters cast a ballot.
The figures provided to the ABC by the Electoral Commission Queensland (ECQ) were:
3.3 million voters were eligible
Around 1.2 million voted at a pre-poll
570,000 people applied for a postal vote — there's no indication yet how many of these were returned
750,000 voters turned out on the day
After the polls closed at 6:00pm, the count was also plagued by technical issues.
The results for Brisbane's lord mayor and councillors massively stalled, with the Electoral Commission's website displaying only a tiny percentage of the votes counted.
PHOTO: Two men shaking hands in front of a window.. Mr Condren and Mr Schrinner shake hands early in the campaign, before physical distance rules came into place. (ABC News file photo)
Late last night the ECQ website updated to say 23 per cent of the preliminary count had Adrian Schrinner ahead with 45 per cent, and Labor's Pat Condren sitting on 31 per cent.
The Greens' Kath Angus had received 16 per cent.
Mr Schrinner said his scrutineers were advising him Mr Condren could not win, but he did not declare victory.
Mr Condren said it was too early, and that he took his figures from the ECQ and not Mr Schrinner's scrutineers.
At the close of the count at 10:00pm, some seats showed counts of less than 1 per cent.
On the Gold Coast, the count fared slightly better, with incumbent Mayor Tom Tate hopeful he would be returned to head up the council.
"Tonight, it's too early to call given the percentage of votes counted. That said, I'm delighted to have 54 per cent of the primary vote so far," Mr Tate said.
Read the depressing rest of Qld cane toad incompetence here
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-29/ ... s/12097852
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