SUNDAY UPDATE: LSC election results and highlights
An election upset is on the cards and fresh faces will appear at the Livingstone Shire Council table.
Rockhampton
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SUNDAY UPDATE 4PM: Counting is continuing slowly to determine who will be councillors sitting at the table for Livingstone Shire Council.
With an additional 2 per cent of the vote counted in the past five hours, almost 20 per cent of the councillor vote has been counted.
Pat Eastwood (3,175 votes) has overtaken Glenda Mather (3.093 votes), to take the lead.
They are followed by Adam Belot (2,778 votes), Leah Grice (2,594 votes), Tanya Lynch (2,592 votes) and Rhodes Watson (2,479 votes).
Incumbent Deputy Mayor Nigel Hutton is still out of the top six with his 2,379 votes.
They are followed by Stephen Bird, Scott Tarratt, Leo Honek and Mathew Peach.
The standings in the mayoral race remain unchanged with Andy Ireland leading incumbent mayor Bill Ludwig.
SUNDAY UPDATE 11AM: Following last night’s technical difficulties marring the publishing of local government election results for the preliminary count, results are pouring in for the official count.
Mayoral race
With 73.11 per cent of the vote counted, Mayoral challenger Andry Ireland’s lead has slightly shrunk over the morning. His 46.02 per cent of the vote is 873 votes clear of incumbent Mayor Bill Ludwig who has 41.37 per cent of the vote.
Lynelle Burns is out of contention with 12.61 per cent.
Councillor race
Results are finally appearing capturing the crowded race for Councillor roles.
After 17.33 of votes counted, Incumbents Glenda Mather leads with 10.28 per cent, followed by Pat Eastwood with 10.12 per cent, Adam Belot with 8.89 per cent.
Leah Grice (8.32 per cent), Tanya Lynch (8.28) and Rhodes Watson (7.97 per cent) look poised to inject fresh perspective into LSC.
Surprisingly, incumbent Deputy Mayor Nigel Hutton could miss out on a seat at the table with 7.43 per cent.
While it is early in the count, this Councillor race will be interesting to follow and could come down to postal vote counting in the coming days.
SUNDAY UPDATE 6.30AM: Challenger Andy Ireland leads incumbent mayor Bill Ludwig by almost 1000 votes with about 68 per cent of the votes counted (unofficial preliminary count) in the Livingstone Shire Council election.
Mr Ireland has attracted 8111 votes (46.52 per cent), Mr Ludwig 7125 votes (40.86 per cent) and Lynelle Burns 2200 votes (12.62 per cent).
The ECQ said it was working on fixing the technical issues which delayed the count from being updated until late last night.
The ECQ said it expected the official count to proceed today.
Only 11.88% of votes are currently showing as being recorded in the battle for the councillor positions.
More to follow
UPDATE 10PM: THERE doesn’t appear to be anymore election updates coming through tonight.
The ECQ has admitted on social media to suffering from technical difficulties.
Stay tuned for more updates on the election count tomorrow morning.
UPDATE 9PM: IN what is sure to be frustrating for the people of Livingstone Shire, results still haven’t been released for the councillor contest despite results pouring in for the Rockhampton region.
The count also hasn’t been updated for mayoral race since the earlier update.
UPDATE 7.30PM: EARLY results are starting to tumble in for the count in Livingstone Shire Council with a possible upset on the cards for the role of mayor.
With 10 per cent of the vote counted, Andy Ireland has his nose ahead with 44.21 per cent of the vote compared to 39.5 per cent for incumbent Mayor Bill Ludwig.
Lynelle Burns has received 16.29 per cent of votes.
We still await the results of counting for the councillors.
Councillor candidate Andrea Friend was pleased to see election day done and dusted.
“Spent my afternoon collecting signs. I’m feeling satisfied with my hard work campaigning over these last three months,” Ms Friend said.
“I’ve absolutely loved every moment meeting the incredible and friendly people who call our beautiful shire home. Thank you for your support.”
Councillor candidate Leah Grice was also happy to be able to relax after a big day.
UPDATE 4.40PM: ELECTORAL Commissioner Mr Pat Vidgen has thanked Queenslanders for their participation so far in the 2020 local government elections.
“More than 600,000 voters have had their say today already” he said, “and polling booths will be open until 6pm,” Mr Vidgen said.
“Early voting levels were also extraordinarily high, with 55 per cent of eligible voters choosing to pre-poll, or apply for a postal vote.
“The vast majority of our community understands that local government is important, now more than ever.
“We have seen great co-operation from voters in helping today’s election run smoothly.”
Polling will be open until 6pm at more than 1300 polling booths across the state, with a range of social distancing measures in place.
Preliminary counting will take place following the close of polls, with results appearing in this story after 7pm.
The Morning Bulletin has spoken to a number of voters today. Read their stories her e:
• Deserted polling stations “a bit surreal” says Uni student
• Student has no designs on leaving home any time soon
• Hardys vote for local employment at election
• Nursing student breaks isolation to come out and vote
• Home care worker calls for quicker response to pandemic
• Tara votes at the end of a “horrible” week
EARLIER: AN ESTIMATED one million people are required to cast their votes in the local government election today, despite concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.
Statistics have revealed 55 per cent of the eligible state voters have already voted.
Candidates have been banned from handing out materials and are not permitted 100m of voting sites.
Livingstone Shire Council candidates have been out and about today, while keeping within the rules.
Here is what they have sent us this morning.
STEPHEN BIRD:
My signs are up so I’ve popped into ‘Flour’ for a takeaway bacon and egg burger. Need to keep supporting our local businesses while keeping our distance and flattening the curve.
ANDREA FRIEND:
I awoke at 3.30am and hammer ready for 5am start on Election Day. Excited!
MIKE DECMAN:
A busy morning with my energetic helper Sue.
Many miles done!
Some rain from Emu Park to Rocky and people queuing already at Parkhurst at social distancing before 0800.
LYNELLE BURNS:
I started with a hectic morning trying to get to as many of the polling stations as possible and put my signs up. We were restricted to between 5:00am and 8:00am to cover the distance in our Shire. By 8:00am people were starting to queue at Taranganba and Yeppoon High and also at Emu Park by the time I got back over that way. I’m now back at home enjoying a takeaway coffee from Ocean Brew Cafe. I also picked up one of their delicious takeaway meals for dinner tonight. Now we wait.
MATTHEW PEACH:
What am I doing at the moment? Trying to control a four year old boy, Marcus, that is so stir crazy at home even the 24 yr old cat has left her favorite spot in the house to avoid the chaos and noise.
Every toy has been used today, so the house looks like a cyclone has hit.
At least three pieces of Lego have drawn blood from my feet, navigating between them all.
Whoever wins in Rocky and Livingstone Shire I implore they move quickly to punish businesses that are “Price Gouging” their local customers.
People responsible for this are lower than looters in my opinion, and should be treated very severely if caught.
I implore Rocky and Livingstone residents to actively photograph evidence, on their phones, of Price Gouging for future punishment from Local Councils.
I suggest Council apply retrospective laws to severely fine each and every occurrence of Price Gouging with a $1000 fine and/or loss of Business Permit at a local level.
As people we must work together during this crisis and we do not want vermin ripping off vulnerable people.
I have seen the price of a bag of Jasmin Rice $37 yesterday to rise to $72 today for a 20kg bag at one certain large Asian Food Supermarket in Rockhampton.
I implore the two councils to make a stand on this matter, whoever wins.
We need to punish Price Gougers and Looters alike, they are of the same ethics and morals.
As Livingstone votes today, what’s over the horizon?
Massive surge in voting before election day
Due to the large number of Queenslanders who voted during the early voting period, the expected numbers of people voting on election day has been significantly reduced.
At the end of the early voting period for the 2020 elections, over 1.2 million electors had cast their vote.
In addition to the 570,000 people who applied for a postal vote and the 40,000 people who have registered for telephone voting, over 1.8 million people, or 55 per cent of eligible voters, have already voted or made arrangements to vote.
Approximately 120,000 of the 570,000 postal vote ballots have been returned to the ECQ to date.
Postal votes must be returned to the ECQ before 7 April to be included in the count, however, postal voters are urged to return their postal ballots as soon as possible.
Voting today
Registrations are open until 12pm tomorrow, and voters have until 6pm, the close of polling on election day, to cast their vote.
The Commissioner continues to urge healthy voters to stay off the phones and vote in person.
Postal voting
Results
The ECQ expects the counting and declaration process to take a little longer than usual. This is due to the unprecedented number of postal votes, as well as the social distancing measures that will be in place for the count.
The ECQ will commence a preliminary count on election night, and results will be available in this story later on this evening.
The official count will begin on Sunday morning and contests will be declared when it is clear and certain who the successful candidate is (i.e it becomes mathematically impossible for anyone else to by successful).
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