Byron council election: Vote count places Michael Lyon and Mark Swivel in the lead
A little more than 5 per cent separates the two leading mayoral candidates in the Byron Shire Council election.
Byron Shire
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Michael Lyon has held his lead in the mayoral vote for the Byron Shire as counting approaches the halfway mark.
Mr Lyon’s share of the votes slipped slightly by the time counting closed at 11pm Saturday, from above 24 per cent earlier in the evening to finish on 23.65 per cent.
Fellow independent candidate Mark Swivel is holding second position in the mayoral votes, with 18.31 per cent of primary votes counted so far.
In the vote for councillors, the Greens team led by Duncan Dey is leading at 21.28 per cent of counted votes.
They are followed by the independent teams of Mr Lyon, (20.62 per cent), Mr Swivel (16.64 per cent), Cate Coorey’s Community Byron team (15.22 per cent) and Asren Pugh’s Labor team (12.18 per cent).
Of 25,414 enrolled voters in the Byron Shire, 11,399 first preference votes (for mayor) and 9530 councillor votes were counted on Saturday.
Counting will resume on Monday.
Speaking outside the Mullumbimby polling booths 40 minutes before voting closed on Saturday, Mr Lyon said he felt the town – home to the shire’s administrative hub – had strongly supported his team.
“I’ve had mixed reviews in certain areas,” Mr Lyon said.
“(I’ve had) a lot of support but I didn't know much support I had until I came to Mullumbimby.
“I can tell there’s enough votes to get me back on council and that’s what I set out to do.”
Mr Lyon went to the last election as a Greens candidate but after missing out on the party’s preselection in 2020, he has campaigned as an independent.
He said he experienced some tensions with Greens mayoral candidate Duncan Dey at the polling booths.
In terms of what people held front of mind when voting this weekend, Mr Lyon said he believed housing, the environment and vaccines – including mandates – were among the top issues for voters.
Mr Swivel, who was running for a place on the council for the first time, said he felt the campaign had been “fantastic”.
“The team has performed way over expectations in terms of just meeting the operational challenge of our first campaign,” Mr Swivel said.
“I think people forget that it’s utterly improvised; everyone’s doing things in their spare time.”
Like many candidates, he visited all of the 11 polling locations on Saturday.
He said he felt his team had “talked to the issues” affecting the Byron Shire leading up to the election.
“We’ve been criticised, we’ve been attacked, we’ve had corflutes defaced and destroyed and that was quite ugly,” he said.
“I’ve been critical, a couple of times, of people.
“But on the whole I think it’s very fair to say we’ve been very policy-focused and we’ve been relentlessly positive.”
Mr Dey said whatever the make up of the next council, he felt it would be a good, “eclectic” mix of people.
“The good thing is the shire gets a good council, whatever happens,” Mr Dey said.
“There’s a good mix in there so I think we'll get a good council.
“Whether that council deals with the key issues … it’s a bit like a lotto in there.”
Mr Dey said his team had lodged a complaint after another candidate’s team interrupted his supporters while they were speaking to a voter at a pre-polling booth.
But he said the campaign period had been mostly positive.
He was however concerned about the low number of voters he saw turn up to vote.
“I think the numbers are way down,” he said.
“As I look at the booths … I don’t see the numbers that I’ve seen in other elections so I’m concerned there’s going to be a really low turnout.”
He said about 3280 people had voted early in the Byron Shire.
Another independent candidate, Bruce Clarke, said he’d found it difficult on Saturday to gauge how the votes would pan out.
Mr Clarke said it had been a challenging campaign for his team, a member of which was struck by tragedy during the campaign.
“All the candidates are genuinely decent to one another,” he said.
“We have many differences in policy but people have been very polite and it’s a great thing about the community.”
EARLIER: Incumbent mayor Michael Lyon has shown signs of holding onto his title based on early polling counts for the Byron Shire.
Mr Lyon ran an independent ticket at the council election after departing The Greens.
As of about 9pm, 6800 formal votes had been counted for the Byron Shire, according to the NSW Electoral Commission.
An additional 270 votes have been classed as “informal/other”.
With more than 25,000 people enrolled to vote in the Byron Shire this election, the final count is still a way off.
Mr Lyon has amassed 24.34 per cent of the mayoral votes that had been counted with a total of 1655 individual votes.
He was followed by Mark Swivel at 17.9 per cent, Duncan Dey (The Greens) at 15 per cent, Cate Coorey at 13.97 per cent Asren Pugh (Labor) at 12.81 per cent.
Alan Hunter, Bruce Clarke, John Anderson and Christopher McIlrath are trailing behind in the votes counted so far.
In the vote for councillors, The Greens have attracted 22.2 per cent of the vote counted so far, more than any other ticket, followed by Mark Swivel’s team at 15.79 per cent.
Earlier:
Polling booths are open and candidates are out and about in a last-ditch effort to garner support from voters.
The Byron Shire has a diverse range of candidates, see the full list here.
Incumbent mayor Michael Lyon – formerly of the Greens, now running as an independent – is hoping to retain his leadership.
He’s up against Alan Hunter, Bruce Clarke, Cate Coorey, John Anderson, Christopher McIlrath, Duncan Dey (Greens), Asren Pugh (Labor) and Mark Swivel.
Polling booths are open from 8am to 6pm on Saturday.
The counting will take place from 6pm in the Mullumbimby Civic Memorial Hall.
Votes for the Ballina Shire are also set to be counted there, according to the Australian Electoral Commission.
Independent mayoral candidates Mark Swivel and Bruce Clarke took a moment outside a Suffolk Park polling place to take a happy snap together.
“Today is truly inspiring,” Mr Swivel wrote on social media.
“So many different people and opinions, so many different local issues and needs.
“But the community atmosphere on this day is just wonderful.”
It’s a noted improvement from Wednesday when a member of Mr Swivel’s team, Fran Hart, spoke out against damage to corflutes.
It included signs with candidates’ faces cut out, cut in half or run over.
“It’s majorly disrespectful that someone would feel that's an appropriate response to a council election,” she said in a video.
“Also it’s really said because I think it does highlight the real divisions in our community which have not, to date, been dealt with adequately by our leaders.”
She said the incidents had saddened but also galvanised her resolve to represent the community.
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