Clarence Valley Council election results in crowds at polling booths
Find out where your favourite candidate is currently ranked as the voting continues to be counted for the Clarence Valley Council elections.
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UPDATE: Monday, December 6
Voting has finished for the afternoon with a further 24,746 formal votes added to the tally. Grafton ice cream extraordinaire Jeff Smith still remains in the top spot with Debrah Novak maintaining second position.
Here’s how the numbers fell for our 16 candidates all vying for a spot on Clarence Valley Council. We’ve ranked them in order of their votes:
| Candidate | Formal Votes | Percentage |
| SMITH Jeff | 4,823 | 19.49% |
| NOVAK Debrah | 2,803 | 11.33% |
| TILEY Ian | 2,184 | 8.83% |
| CLANCY Greg | 2,101 | 8.49% |
| JOHNSTONE Peter | 1,964 | 7.94% |
| WHAITES Allison | 1,833 | 7.41% |
| DAY Bill | 1,788 | 7.23% |
| TOMS Karen | 1,379 | 5.57% |
| PICKERING Steve | 1,256 | 5.08% |
| ELLEM Peter | 1,242 | 5.02% |
| HANSON Pete | 939 | 3.79% |
| GIBBINS Ash | 900 | 3.64% |
| SCOTT Donald | 526 | 2.13% |
| BELLETTY Phil | 434 | 1.75% |
| LANG Warren | 297 | 1.20% |
| FULLER Jeffrey | 277 | 1.12% |
SUNDAY
Independent Clarence Valley Council candidate Jeff Smith says he is thrilled with the support he has received after about 43 per cent of formal votes had been counted.
“I was quietly hoping to get into the top nine but I’m leading; who’d have thought,” Mr Smith said.
He said there were only two votes to his name when he first started watching the numbers roll in.
“That was in the first 10 minutes, but then all of a sudden we’re rocking along at 20 per cent,” he said.
“Throughout the night we were watching us gain a little bit, lose a little bit, gain a little bit more.”
Mr Smith, who runs iScream, an ice creamery in Prince Street, Grafton, proved most popular in the Grafton area with a progressive total of 1951 votes.
Polling data showed 443 of those votes came from a booth Grafton High School.
However, he was surprised to see the numbers fall in his favour in areas outside of the CBD, such as Coutts Crossing, which earned him 169 votes.
“I guess the legend of the ice cream man has been dispersed far and wide, more than I anticipated,” he said.
Other candidates who proved popular in the Grafton and South Grafton area included Allison Whaites with 751 votes, Peter Johnstone with 682 and Greg Clancy with 413.
Down river, Debrah Novak is leading the way with 1213 progressive votes across the Yamba area, with Yamba Public School polling booth earning her 240 votes.
Ms Novak is followed by former Clarence Valley Council mayor Ian Tiley with 770 votes, Greg Clancy with 760 votes and Karen Toms at 717 progressive votes.
Counting will restart on Monday morning. Until then, here’s how the numbers fell:
| Candidate | Formal Votes | Percentage |
| Jeff Smith | 3,092 | 19.29% |
| Debrah Novak | 1,892 | 11.80% |
| Greg Clancy | 1,451 | 9.05% |
| Allison Whaites | 1,334 | 8.32% |
| Ian Tiley | 1,214 | 7.57% |
| Peter Johnstone | 1,053 | 6.57% |
| Bill Day | 1,004 | 6.26% |
| Karen Toms | 916 | 5.71% |
| Steve Pickering | 859 | 5.36% |
| Peter Ellem | 835 | 5.21% |
| Pete Hanson | 651 | 4.06% |
| Ash Gibbins | 636 | 3.97% |
| Donald Scott | 358 | 2.23% |
| Phil Belletty | 352 | 2.20% |
| Warren Lang | 193 | 1.20% |
| Jeffrey Fuller | 192 | 1.20% |
7.30PM SATURDAY
Clarence Valley Council candidate Jeff Smith has taken an early lead with over 1000 votes in his favour. Current councilor who is contesting her position, Deb Novak is coming in second place, followed by former Clarence Valley Council mayor Ian Tiley.
Jeffrey Fuller and Warren Lang are seeing a slow start with less than 100 votes each. However, the evening is still young, so at this stage it’s still anyone’s race.
Number of votes as of 7.30pm
Pete Hanson 270 votes
Jeff Smith 1,377 votes
Deb Novak 823 votes
Ian Tiley 584 votes
Warren Lang 87 votes
Bill Day 518 votes
Allison Whaites 505 votes
Greg Clancy 590 votes
Donald Scott 179 votes
Ash Gibbins 284 votes
Peter Ellem 311 votes
Karen Toms 266 votes
Phil Belletty 146 votes
Peter Johnstone 504 votes
Steve Pickering 436 votes
Jeffrey Fuller 87 votes
EARLIER
Voting for the 2021 Clarence Valley Council elections got off to a healthy start on Saturday morning with 28 polling booths open across the region from 8am.
However, at Lawrence Public School, the number of people arriving to vote was a little quieter than previous years.
“There’s been a steady flow of people, but there’s definitely a marked decrease in numbers this time,” Lawrence Public School P&C Association member Lacey Sherden said.
Ms Sherden said all the action was happening outside the polling booth as the region decided which of the 16 candidates would earn themselves a place on the council.
“It was good timing to have the election in December because people are going nuts for our Christmas craft stall,” she said.
The most delicious aspect of polling day, the democracy sausage, also found itself up against a new contender heating up the barbecue.
“We’re calling it the works burger,” Ms Sherden said.
“We’re finding too many people can’t decide whether to have a traditional sausage sizzle or a bacon and egg roll, so we’re combining the two and so far it’s proving popular.”
Residents have until 6pm Saturday to cast their vote at one of the region’s 28 polling locations.
Still haven’t decided on who to vote for yet? Check out our comprehensive list of candidates here.
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