Cowra Shire turned out to vote on Saturday to finally resolve the question of its ninth councillor.
As at the end of counting on Saturday, Ms Karren Cave received the overwhelming majority of votes, with 44.34% percent of total votes or ballot papers in her favour. With postal, telephone and declaration votes yet to be counted.
Candidates campaigned on a range of social, economic vibrancy, infrastructure and integrity issues, with some scaling beyond what some residents thought to be within the limits of council.
One resident, Gordon Balfour Haynes, contacted the Cowra Guardian saying "Some of the candidates for the Cowra 2024 by-election don’t seem to know which level of government they are standing for; their fantasies extend far beyond local-government remits, possibilities, and budgets – one might think they were running for the position of premier or prime minister."
Voter turnouts, as well as the number of informal votes also tell a story about the engagement of voters.
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At time of writing, roughly over ten percent of votes were considered informal.
The NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC) has not yet announced a final result, with a spokesperson saying "This week all ballot papers for the Cowra local government by-election will be transported to the NSWEC head office in Sydney to undergo a second check count. During that check count process all ballot papers will be re-examined including those ballot papers that were counted as informal on election night."
"Postal votes for the election can be returned up to 6pm Friday 6, December. Therefore, the elected councillor will not be known until the week commencing Monday, 9
December."
The number of informal votes will also be used as an informational tool to adapt to later elections, with the NSWEC adding "Following the count completion, a detailed analysis of the informality rate will be undertaken. We will use that information to plan our stakeholder engagement for future elections."
The by-election follows the Council elections held in September, when only eight candidates put their names forward to Council. With one space remaining and the potential for internal council votes potentially tied, residents were again forced to the polls to elect a ninth councillor.
Berrigan and Junee also held by-elections under similar circumstances.
Karren Cave is known to the shire from her work at Cowra Community Enterprises (CCE), winning the 2024 Cowra Citizen of the Year for CCE's work.
