Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner is claiming victory despite a farcical count during Queensland's local government elections where a technical meltdown meant none of the results were showing on the Electoral Commission of Queensland's website.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner is claiming victory despite a farcical count during Queensland's local government elections where a technical meltdown meant none of the results were showing on the Electoral Commission of Queensland's website.
Queensland's already controversial local government elections, heavily criticised for being held during the coronavirus pandemic, descended into farce last night.
At 10pm, four hours after polls closed and when the count stopped for the night, hardly any results had been released, with some Brisbane wards having only a handful of votes counted, according to the ECQ website.
Only 20 votes had been counted at The Gap while none had been counted at Hamilton. Brisbane's mayoral vote remained stuck on just over 14 per cent of the vote counted.
The ECQ blamed technical difficulties on its website for slow results, saying the counting of ballots had gone on as expected.
But that didn't stop current Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner from claiming victory late tonight based off information from his scrutineers.
An ECQ spokeswoman said "technical issues are slowing the display of count results on the ECQ website'.
"Our team is working on resolving them," she said.
"Results will be available on the website as soon as possible," she said.
Preliminary counts are underway. Results are coming into the ECQ as expected.
— ECQ (@ECQInfo) March 28, 2020
We're having technical issues displaying results online. We are are working on the issue. Preliminary count continues tonight till around 10pm. The official count begins tomorrow.
Counting is expected to wind down for the night at 10pm and the official count will commence tomorrow.
I hear there are lots of results being counted and phoned through, but when it comes to letting the world know them, it's a case of "Computer says no". Technical problems.
— Antony Green (@AntonyGreenABC) March 28, 2020
Updates across the board have been slow, with some councils' counts having barely moved through the evening.
The diabolically slow count has people erupting on Twitter with Alex Smock tweeting 'ECQ have barely released any results. Unusually disgraceful even by ECQ standards' while Ben Smee joked 'Queensland elections 2020, brought to you by hand sanitiser and the DNC'
Moreton Bay Regional Council's mayoral count hasn't updated in over an hour.
Local Government Association of Queensland chief executive Greg Hallam said "unprecedented circumstances" surrounding the coronavirus could be behind the slow count, with many voters choosing pre-polling or postal voting.
"We understand this has affected the speed with which the vote can be counted but we sympathise with candidates awaiting the result," Mr Hallam said.
"It is our hope that the results will be a lot clearer by the end of Sunday."
It’s understood the ECQ is now welcoming scrutineers to observe the vote given the technical issues.
I've seen results coming in on the @ECQInfo website for the Lord Mayor count, but they are all over the place. Data seems wrong, with Greens candidate count going backwards, and several independents making jumps by the thousands.
— Thom Browning (@ThommyBee) March 28, 2020
FOLLOW THE LIVE COVERAGE IN OUR BLOG BELOW
ALL THE CANDIDATES FOR THE BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL ELECTION
The Electoral Commission of Queensland has blamed technical difficulties which has seen very little results display on its website.
Many wards around the state continue to display 0 per cent votes counted while the Brisbane Mayoral race shows only 14 per cent has been counted. The ECQ will stop counting at about 10pm.
No outcomes are expected tonight, with the site hopefully fixed tomorrow when counting resumes.
COLOURFUL Greens Cr Jonathan Sri has taken an early lead in what pundits had predicted would be a tight contest in The Gabba.
At 8.25pm with 0.67 per cent of the preliminary count complete, Cr Sri was on 40.66 per cent (74 votes), followed by the LNP's Nathaniel on 30.22 per cent (55 votes) and finally Labor candidate Rachel Gallagher on 29.12 per cent (29.12).
– Ellen-Maree Elliot
CANDIDATES are neck and neck in the inner southwest ward of Tennyson, held by the city's only independent councillor Nicole Johnston.
With just 25 votes counted at 8.23pm, LNP candidate Maurice Lane has seven votes, Labor's Jackie Schneider and Greens candidate Patsy O'Brien have six votes, Cr Johnston is on five and Animal Justice Party candidate Darryl Prout has one.
– Ellen-Maree Elliot
IN Brisbane's southside ward of Runcorn, incumbent LNP Cr Kim Marx, first elected to council in 2012, is ahead in the preliminary count.
At 8.16pm, with 4.46 per cent of the vote counted Cr Marx was on 41.51 per cent (594 votes), followed by Labor's John Prescott with 41.51 per cent (533 votes) and then the Greens Nicola Gordon on 12.23 per cent (157 votes).
Informal votes have counted for 5.51 per cent of the count.
– Ellen-Marie Elliot
EARLY results tonight indicate the next mayor of Australia's third largest local government could be decided by preferences.
At 8.15pm, with just one per cent of the vote counted, Adrian Raedel (25.88 per cent) was ahead, followed by Peter Flannery (25 per cent) and Chris Thompson (20.7 per cent).
Six candidates are vying for the spot vacated by Allan Sutherland, who resigned last year after being charged with misconduct by the Crime and Corruption Commission. He has maintained his innocence.
Adrian Raedel, who is alleged to have corruptly received benefits, would be automatically suspended if elected. Cr Raedel has maintained his innocence.
– Thomas Morgan
EARLY results tonight indicate the next mayor of Australia's third largest local government could be decided by preferences.
At 8.15pm, with just one per cent of the vote counted, Adrian Raedel (25.88 per cent) was ahead, followed by Peter Flannery (25 per cent) and Chris Thompson (20.7 per cent).
Six candidates are vying for the spot vacated by Allan Sutherland, who resigned last year after being charged with misconduct by the Crime and Corruption Commission. He has maintained his innocence.
Adrian Raedel, who is alleged to have corruptly received benefits, would be automatically suspended if elected. Cr Raedel has maintained his innocence.
– Thomas Morgan
THE LNP candidate Greg Adermann has pulled ahead in the very early count in Pullenvale Ward, with 438 ballots counted or 1.38 per cent of the count.
Mr Adermann is on 43.17 per cent, followed by Greens candidate Charles Druckmann on 28.54 per cent.
Incumbent Cr Kate Richards, the former LNP candidate and now independent has 17.27 per cent of the preliminary count, with Labor's Jordan Mark in last place on 11.03 per cent.
There are so far 21 informal votes, 4.44 per cent.
– Ellen-Maree Elliot
EARLY counts in Moorooka Ward show Labor Cr Steve Griffiths far outpacing his rivals.
At 7.54pm, with just 110 votes counted (0.39 per cent of the vote), Cr Griffiths had 60.91 per cent of first preference votes.
In what's likely to be an early fluke LNP candidate Warren Craze and the Greens' candidate Claire Garton were tied with 18 votes each – or 16.3 per cent of the vote.
Independent Brett Gillespie had 6.36 per cent of the vote.
– Ellen-Maree Elliot
FORMER state minister and McDowall Ward incumbent LNP Cr Tracy Davis has taken an early lead in her first council election.
At 7.49pm Cr Davis, who was appointed to the ward after Norm Wyndham retired, was on 47.28 per cent of the vote, with 1.57 per cent counted.
Second was Labor's Liam Culverhouse on 36.17 and then Greens candidate Joshua Sanderson with 16.56 per cent.
– Ellen-Maree Elliot
IN results that will surprise no-one LNP incumbent Ryan Murphy has surged ahead in the preliminary results in the Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner's former ward of Chandler.
At 7.42pm, Cr Murphy has 63.59 per cent of the vote, granted it's with only .69 per cent of the total early count.
Labor's Penny O'Neill has 20 per cent and the Greens' Steph Moss has 16.41 per cent.
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