Logan one of 20 councils still to be decided

Logan is one of only 20 councils left without a result nearly three weeks after the local government election. But the Electoral Commission of Queensland blamed the slow vote counting on the need for accuracy.

Voting at Logan City Council elections at Daisy Hill State School. AAP/Richard Walker

LOGAN City Council voters are still waiting to find out who will be on their next council, nearly three weeks after the local government election.

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Only four of the city’s 12 seats have been declared and although former councillor Darren Power is poised to become the city’s next mayor, no formal declaration has been made.

Three former councillors, Lisa Bradley (Div1); Laurie Koranski (Div4); and Jon Raven (Div5) were returned to the seats they held before the entire council was dismissed in May last year.

In Division 11, Natalie Willcocks was declared the winner.

Natalie Willcocks has won Division 11 in Logan.

Of the state’s 77 councils, 57 have been fully declared and 20 councils are still waiting on full results.

Brisbane City Council has 22 positions declared and five remaining.

Logan, like many of the councils, operated under optional preferential voting, which allows votes to be recounted if an outcome was uncertain so preferences can be distributed.

The Electoral Commission of Queensland said the slow counting was because declarations could only be made when the outcome was mathematically certain.

Logan Chamber of Commerce Vice-President James Stoke said the slow release of results was detrimental for business.

“It’s ridiculous that this is taking so long when businesses are suffering,” Mr Stokes said.

“These public servants have one job to do and that’s to count the votes and this delay is destroying business.”

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ECQ said all ballot papers were counted twice as was normal practice and said there was no evidence of vote rigging or ballots missing in Logan.

In close contests, where there was option preferential voting, such as in Logan, the distribution of preferences was key in the declaration of the successful candidate.

“As is usual, a number of declaration votes have not been counted due to the person not being eligible to cast a vote in the election,” ECQ said.

“This is usually because they are not enrolled for the area they claimed on the declaration.”

A preliminary count, then a primary or check count were conducted in each seat and preferences were distributed where there were more than two candidates.

A number of ballot papers were counted and checked a third time but no candidate had requested a recount in divisions yet to be declared.

ECQ said declarations would be made only when all quality assurance processes were completed.

Once a declaration was signed by the Electoral Commissioner, the Returning Officer will present it to the council CEO and results published on the council website and then the ECQ website.

Across the state about 10,000 casual staff were employed for the election.

Numbers of staff counting depended on the size of the count, the size of the venue and consideration of appropriate social distancing requirements.

In Logan, the counting was coordinated by Returning Officer Ray Langler and his wife, an Assistant Returning Officer along with five other Assistant Returning Officers.