Shellharbour Council reach resolution on iVote mess ahead of court date

Shellharbour Council has made an extraordinary move following the December’s iVote debacle during the local government elections.

Shellharbour’s six new councillors experienced a ‘baptism of fire’ at Tuesday night’s extraordinary general meeting as the council looked to find an answer to the iVote bungle that threatens to void December’s election.

The councillors reached an agreement the result in Ward A should stand despite the iVote bungle, with councillors eager to avoid another ballot which could cost the ratepayers more than $200,000.

The iVote system crashed on the December 4 vote leading to the NSW Electoral Commission launching legal action in the Supreme Court seeking a ruling on the validity of the results in three LGA polls, including Kempsey, Singleton and Ward A in Shellharbour.

Independent candidate Kellie Marsh and Labor candidate Maree Edwards were declared as victors in Ward A. However, Ms Edwards finished ahead of Independent Shane Bitschkat by only four votes, a miserly margin considering 54 people registered to vote in Ward A failed to do so because of the iVote crash.

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The Commission has found it was possible “a different outcome might have occurred” if iVote hadn’t failed and has asked the Supreme Court to find “technology assisted voting” laws were not properly followed in those elections.

Therefore, according to the court documents, it wants a judge to order that “it is not reasonably certain” that 19 councillors would have won and ”(their) election is liable to be declared void” because of the iVote meltdown.

The meeting was the first held by rookie mayor Chris Homer, who last week revealed he has prostate cancer and was battling to overcome the disease throughout the election campaign.

Cr Homer tabled a three-point motion outlining that; council does not support a ratepayer funded re-election in Ward A; if an re-election is called for Ward A, it should only be for the second place candidate; and as the matter only affects one ward in Shellharbour, the matter should be dealt with separately to Kempsey Shire Council and Singleton Council.

Before council began debating the motion, Cr Marsh and Cr Edwards both declared they had a direct interest in the matter. Cr Marsh excused herself from the chamber, but Cr Edwards decided to stay put.

Cr Edwards said December’s vote should be maintained, arguing the underfunded iVote system was an example of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ and that the likelihood is if the 54 failed votes were registered, they would have fallen in her favour.

“The case is ultimately not about me or Cr Marsh or anybody else,” she said.

“This attempt to overturn the election result is more about politics and lawfare in my opinion.

“You could describe us as crash test dummies. This action (of the NSW Electoral Commission going to the Supreme Court) is unprecedented and one can only question the true motives.

“Hypothetically, the 54 failed iVotes, hypothetically is the big issue here, the 54 iVotes were likely to follow the same pattern.”

Ward A is Shellharbour's largest ward by population and land size. Picture: Shellharbour City Council

Councillor Robert Petreski said the challenge to the legitimacy of the election was a “clear attack on democracy”.

He said he had received an estimate that another vote in Ward A would cost ratepayers around $100,000 for each year of the current term.

“The only true measure of an election result is to count the legal votes cast… that’s our electoral system,” Cr Petreski said.

“This action has very little to do with Shellharbour Ward A and it has very little to do with Singleton and the other council as well. It has everything to do with setting a legal precedent so if something like this were to happen again, I believe the government of the day would like to have a precedent in their pocket to say we need to do another election - there’s a much bigger picture at play here.”

The motion was voted down seven to one.

It was a turbulent first meeting for mayoral debutante Chris Homer. Picture: Dylan Arvela

Cr Petreski put forward a motion that would see the council strongly reject the Supreme Court matter.

The motion said the council would not support a council-funded re-election in Ward A, that there should be no further election in Ward A and that the results that stood on the December declaration should be accepted.

It also stated the council would seek costs from being, in the words of Cr Petreski, “dragged into” the matter.

The motion was passed unanimously.

“It was a baptism of fire,” Cr Homer said after the meeting.

“The whole thing was very much mind bending. A lot of outcomes were presumed prior to this meeting, no one really knows if the way forward is rock solid. We have got a position now, it’s going to go to the Supreme Court and I am willing to see where the chips will fall.

“Even though my motion was turned down I am happy for this council to move forward and for this issue to be resolved. I want to work for the people and I am pretty sure the rest of the people feel the same and are wanting to do what they’ve elected for and serve the people

Speaking after the meeting, Cr Marsh said she was dismayed by Cr Edwards decision to remain in the chamber.

“I was quite shocked that (Maree Edwards) didn’t remove herself from proceedings,” Cr Marsh told the Illawarra Star.

“There was a conflict of interest. I did the right and the moral thing by excusing myself from the vote.

“I was pleased with the aspect of cost. It was a no-brainer that ratepayers shouldn’t pay (for another election). But I was disappointed more consideration wasn’t given (to the impact) it had on Shane Bitschkat’s result.”

Cr Edwards, who described the preceding few weeks as ‘harrowing’, declined an interview on the night.

The matter will be heard in the Supreme Court on Friday.

The council will convene again next Tuesday for the first ordinary general meeting of the new term where the deputy mayor will be elected.