Hundreds of thousands of ballots have been counted overnight, following the Local Government elections on Saturday. See the breakdown of votes across NSW here.
Millions of people across 126 local government areas spanning the entire state will head to the polls in a “Covid-safe” election day on Saturday — after the NSW Government was forced to delay council elections twice due to Covid-19.
In September, Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock announced the delay of the compulsory council elections due to the widespread threat of the Delta variant.
Ratepayers in a total of 35 council areas will have the opportunity to elect their mayor and councillors for the next two and a half year term in popularly-elected areas, while other local government areas will vote for councillor who will then elect a mayor to lead the team.
124 councils will use the NSW Electoral Commission’s services on election day, while Penrith and Fairfield have hired a private company.
Four council areas — Balranald, Central Darling, Central Coast and Wingecarribee — will not have elections.
Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of Local Government Election Day across NSW. NewsLocal has reporters in council areas across the state, bringing you the latest updates from polling booths in your community.
And that is a wrap from NewsLocal on the live blog Local Government Election count for Saturday night. Our journalists across the state will bring you the latest information on your local government areas as the results roll in over the coming day.
Be sure to stay tuned tomorrow for an election wrap-up from your community journalist team.
Mayoral candidate Steve Krieg says he is overwhelmed by the support received at the ballot booth as he prepares to take the top job from Lismore City Council Mayor Vanessa Ekins.
“It looks like we have definitely won the mayor’s race, which is really good,” Mr Krieg said during a celebration party at Lismore Heights Sports Club on Saturday night.
“I’m glad that we have been given a mandate by the people of Lismore City Council to actually get in and do what Lismore constituents want us to do.”
Mr Krieg, a cafe owner, had 9099 first preference votes from a total of 17,547 counted, giving him a percentage of 51.86 per cent.
Lake Macquarie Mayor Kay Fraser is set to reclaim her title, with more than half of the total possible votes counted.
Of the 71,000 votes counted Ms Fraser, a Labor candidate, has 36,000, making her more than 30,000 ahead of the next closest candidate, Liberal Jason Pauling.
Labor looks set to reclaim six seats on the 12-person council.
Images of Ned Mannoun’s face were splashed in manure in an overnight attack but the Liberal mayoral candidate looks to be having the last laugh and is on track to return to the top job after a five-year hiatus.
The race to become mayor is favouring Mr Mannoun, who so far has secured 42.6 per cent of the vote, followed by Labor’s Nathan Haggarty (37.83 per cent), independent Michael Andjelkovic (7.95 per cent), Liverpool Community Independents Team’s Peter Harle (7.41 per cent) and Greens Asm Morshed who picked up 4.22 per cent of the vote.
Waverley Council’s vote is shaping up as a contest between the Liberals and the Greens.
Bondi ward is hotly contested with the Greens, led by Dominic Wy Kanak (pictured), out in front on 39 per cent of the vote. The Liberal party team headed by Leon Goltsman has 35 per cent of the vote and Labor has 25 per cent.
In Waverley Ward the Liberals struck back, with 39per cent of the vote to the Greens 33 per cent. Labor has 27 per cent.
The Liberals have two-thirds of the vote in Hunter ward against Labor as the only two teams running, while in Lawson ward it is a race of three teams and an independent. The Liberal Party, led by Angela Burrill had 40 per cent of the vote, followed by the Greens and Labor, each with 28 per cent. Independent Charles Hunter had two per cent of the vote with almost 6000 of a possible 11600 counted.
Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes is on track for her third consecutive term in the top job as counting continues into the night.
With almost 38,350 of the 123,000 possible votes counted, Mrs Nelmes continues to dominate the pack with 15,347 votes, followed by Independent John Church on 9560 votes, Greens candidate John Mackenzie with 5900 and Liberal candidate Jenny Barrie with 3922 votes.
Independent Rod Holding is next followed by Social Alliance candidate Steve O’Brien.
Meanwhile in Port Stephens it is a close as you can get between the two mayoral candidates. After a dead tie earlier tonight, incumbent mayor Ryan Palmer has crept ahead with 50.4 per cent of the votes while Labor candidate Leah Anderson is on 49.5 per cent. This will be one to watch overnight with almost 23,000 of a possible 57,000 votes counted.
Clover Moore is all but poised to return as Sydney Lord Mayor for a record fifth term, leading the early polls late on Saturday night with 42 per cent of the vote.
Ms Moore is aiming to cement her name in the record books and all but told her jubilant supporters they could expect her in the top job for another three years.
Final results could potentially be weeks away, but with such a significant early lead toppling the long-time independent could be a huge task.
“It’s been challenging because the campaign has gone on for two years (due to delays),” Ms Moore said.
“We’re going to continue to provide a strong, independent, progressive leadership of the city.
“We’re going to continue our action on climate change, we are going to continue to support our vulnerable communities and we’re going to continue supporting people in social housing.
“Have a great night and we’ll have another great three years.”
Results for the Dubbo Regional Council elections are starting to trickle in and early indicators suggest former mayor Ben Shields could struggle to secure a seat on council.
Mr Shields and the group he leads have attracted 207 votes so far, while another former mayor Mathew Dickerson has 818 votes.
Former Ben Shields Team member and now Labor candidate Vicki Etheridge has 388 votes for the group she leads.
Mr Dickerson is directing preferences to Mrs Etheridge and if the early voting trend holds up, Mr Shields could struggle to secure a seat on council.
The seats of the incumbent Macarthur mayors seem assured as the early polling counts begin in the region.
With just over 18 per cent of the votes tallied, Campbelltown Mayor George Brticevic and the Labour party are carrying 43.9 per cent of the total number of votes tallied.
The Liberal party is the closest competitor (but far from breathing down Labor’s neck) with 25.2 per cent of the votes tallied.
Meanwhile in Camden, incumbent Mayor Therese Fedeli is the frontrunner to keep her seat in Central Ward, with 42 per cent of the votes in her favour.
In the North Ward, the Liberal Party headed by Lara Symkowiak had the lead after amassing 49.25 per cent of the votes – nearly half the total votes.
The South Ward has the closest numbers with Russell Zammit’s Liberal Party at the front of the pack with 39.19 per cent. The ticket is followed closely by Paul Farrow (Labor) and Eva Campbell (Independent) who are neck and neck with 29.66 per cent and 29.48 per cent of the votes respectively.
Clover Moore is on track to extend her 17 year mayoral tenure on the City of Sydney as counting from today's election continues.
With 15 per cent of the vote counted, Ms Moore leads the mayoral race with 43 per cent of the vote ahead of Linda Scott (16.6%), Yvonne Weldon (15.8%), Shauna Jarrett (9.6%), Sylvie Ellsmore (9.4%), and Angela Vithoulkas (5.6%).
The Clover Moore Independent Team has secured 41 per cent of the total council vote.
The early result represents a 13 per cent swing against the team, while independent candidates have picked up a 10.7 per cent increase in the vote and the Greens are up 8.8 per cent
Labor and The Greens are dominating early counting in the Inner West with the Greens out front at 37.4 per cent in the total vote closely followed by Labor 35.9 per cent.
A total of 17 per cent of the vote has been counted as of 9.20pm.
The early results are similar to the last election in 2017 in which Labor and The Greens each secured five seats on the council, leaving the balance of power to independent and Liberal councillors.
Today's council ward results show Greens candidates Dylan Griffiths and Liz Atkins are leading in the Ashfield and Stanmore wards while Labor candidates Darcy Byrne, Justine Langford and Philippa Scott are out front in Balmain, Marrickville and Leichhardt.
Counting continues until 11pm tonight.
Will defending champion Think About It line up in this year’s The Everest? Saturday’s Premiere Stakes at Randwick is poised to decide his fate.
The plans of Racing NSW supremo Peter V’landys to attract a younger - and more female - crowd to the races is clearly working, with women snapping up more than half of the tickets sold so far for the Everest Carnival.