Whitsunday election results: Batty admits he can’t win, two councillors in the lead
As the race for mayor keeps a clear front runner after 77 per cent of the ballots have been counted, the race for two councillor seats will soon come to an end. ROLLING COVERAGE.
Whitsunday
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CEO of the Bowen Gumlu Growers Association Ry Collins looks set to be the next mayor of the Whitsundays.
The latest votes on Monday showed mayoral candidate Ry Collins still leading the race with 47.47 per cent of votes, followed by Philip Batty with 25.05 per cent of votes.
Mr Batty had told this publication on Saturday night that he did not believe he could win the mayoral race by looking at the trend the counting was going at.
When the counting for early voters in Bowen was finished around 10pm, out of 4175 votes counted, 387 had gone to Mr Hood, 332 had gone to Mr Evans, 1278 to Batty and 2175 to Collins.
Mr Batty said that even if all the votes from the other candidates were added to his count, in the event that all second preferences went to him, it would not be enough to surpass the votes gathered by Mr Collins.
“There’s not doubt Mr Collins won, what I want to see now is by how close,” Mr Batty said.
To clarify this point, there is no official confirmation of who won the mayoral seat as of yet.
On the side of elections for councillors, only two divisions had been contested in this election.
The seat for Division 2 councillor is likely to remain in the hands of the sitting councillor Clay Bauman who has over 50 per cent of votes while 78 per cent of the Whitsundays votes were cast.
Mr Bauman has gathered 58.56 per cent of votes, while his competitor Tony Price is at 41.44 per cent.
The seat for a Division 6 councillor also has a clear front runner after over 80 per cent of votes were cast, with candidate John Finlay leading with 72 per cent of votes and David Paddon at 27 per cent.
Earlier
By midnight on election day, 60 per cent 0f the Whitsundays 24,524 ballots had been cast leaving the race for mayor with a clear front runner.
With almost 50 per cent of votes, Ry Collins is leading the pack of mayoral candidates by a wide margin with his closest challenger Philip Batty with 24.26 per cent of the vote.
However, as at 8.34pm on election night, Mr Batty felt if Collins’ lead were to continue, he would most likely concede the race.
According to the Electoral Commission of Queensland, there needs to be more than 50 per cent of votes counted to have a definitive answer.
Candidates Richard Evans and Peter Hood were not present at the Cannonvale counting centre.
As the clock rang 6pm, election booths shut and counting began to determine who will replace Julie Hall as the Whitsunday region’s next mayor.
As of 8.05pm, Ry Collins was leading the unofficial preliminary count with 44.3 per cent, followed by Philip Batty at 21.73 per cent, Peter Hood at 19.16 per cent and Richard Evans at 14.81 per cent, with 3357 votes counted so far, or 13.69 per cent.
Mr Collins was proving popular in Collinsville with 57.89 per cent of the votes, as well as in Proserpine with 49.33 per cent.
Donning the yellow vests as scrutineers for the count at Whitsunday Christian College in Cannonvale were mayoral candidate Ry Collins and councillor candidate for Division 2, Clay Bauman.
The count, which initially will only focus on mayoral preferences, is expected to take several hours.
Mr Collins said he was “very tired” after two weeks of a “positive” campaign.
“I feel so grateful for the volunteers that have followed me through this,” he said.
Mr Collins said there was a “definitely a trend” among the votes but he did not think they would get an outright answer as there did not seem to be much preference voting.
The count follows a mixed day of footy fever and voters admitting they had randomly ticking boxes on the ballot papers.
Sherie and Chris O’Reilly, who have lived in the Whitsundays for more than 15 years, exited the Airlie Beach PCYC polling booth with the impression their votes were a “waste” as they did not know who the candidates were.
“We didn’t know who to vote for because we didn’t receive any correspondence,” Mrs O’Reilly said.
Mr O’Reilly said the Whitsunday Regional Council election was important as the council were in charge of rates.
The couple said they voted for Ry Collins as mayor but only because they had ticked a box at random.
But the O’Reilly’s weren’t the only ones feeling under informed on election day.
Cannonvale residents Kirsty and James Lee said they were disappointed social media was the only tool available for residents to form an opinion.
“There was not any real promotion of any candidate,” Mr Lee said.
Bianca Peters and her partner, another couple in their 20s, said they decided to vote blank as they knew nothing about the candidates.
“They don’t educate you on what you’re voting for,” Ms Peters said.
“I know it’s for the mayor, but what’s their role? I don’t know.”
The Airlie Beach booth was bustling with activity as volunteers directed motorists who were either seeking a democratic sausage sizzle, or headed to the football.
Cara Behncke, who proudly wore a Whitsunday Sea Eagles AFL jersey, said it was nice to have the booth next to the fields so she could quickly “pop in” to vote then get back to the first day of the Airlie Beach Pre Season Carnival Fixture.
Mayoral candidate Philip Batty, who tucked into the traditional sausage on bread, had reminded everyone of the importance of casting your vote.
Jubilee Pocket resident Jon Kasper, of Jubilee Pocket, used his vote to support Peter Hood to replace Julie Hall as mayor.
“Because I’d like to see someone look into the financial situation of the local council,” Mr Kasper said.
More than half of Whitsunday region voters had already voted ahead of the big day with 13,231 ballot papers lodged, the majority of those on Friday.
Mayoral contender Richard Evans on Friday said he was confident it would be a “close call” between him and Rhy Collins.
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