By Cara Waters
There will be a partial recount of votes in Goldstein to ensure confidence in the result and the counting process after a request was made by independent Zoe Daniel, the Australian Electoral Commission has announced.
Liberal Tim Wilson recorded a slim margin of 260 votes ahead of Daniel after the final count finished on Saturday.
Zoe Daniel claimed victory on election night but on the final count Tim Wilson was victorious by 260 votes. Daniel has now successfully requested a recount. Credit: Penny Stephens
A spokesman for the AEC said the decision to conduct the recount was made after advice from the national election manager to the electoral commissioner “to ensure the greatest level of confidence in the final result and the utmost integrity in the counting process”.
The recount will begin on Wednesday and will take up to four days.
Wilson said he was relaxed about the recount.
“We have been very relaxed about every count and recount to date in Goldstein, as we know the count will deliver the result that reflects the will of the people of Goldstein,” he said.
However, Wilson said he was worried that data scientist Simon Jackman, who has been advising Daniel, has also advised the Labor Party.
“It does not surprise me that it has been revealed the teals have consultants working for them that have also been consulting to Labor, and who have been providing cover to push for this recount,” he said. “I look forward to the conclusion of the partial recount and the declaration of the poll, and thank the AEC staff, all scrutineers and the people of Goldstein.”
Daniel said given the corrections picked up in the final stages of the distribution of preferences, the AEC had said it was appropriate and reasonable to do an additional check of first preferences.
“Once again, I’d like to thank my scrutineers and AEC staff for their diligence and dedication to the democratic process,” she said.
The partial recount will involve a re-examination of all first preference ballot papers for Wilson and Daniel, as well as all informal votes, but the full distribution of preferences will not be recounted.
“The recount request submitted by independent candidate Zoe Daniel was carefully considered and was instructive but not determinative, and her request for a full recount has not been granted,” the AEC spokesman said.
Tim Wilson says he is very relaxed about a recount in Goldstein.Credit: Paul Jeffers
The spokesman said the count for the distribution of preferences highlighted some discrepancies in the fresh scrutiny count for Goldstein.
“The nature of the discrepancies in this case pointed to instances where fresh scrutiny results had been entered into the system incorrectly,” he said. “While the distribution of preferences process enabled these to be rectified for first preference ballot papers for excluded [non-two candidate preferred] candidates, hence the change of margins on a few occasions, it has highlighted a need to re-examine ballot papers not dealt with at distribution of preferences.”
The spokesman said the AEC would not undertake a full recount, which would include repeating the recently completed distribution of preferences.
“We are satisfied that there was a very high degree of rigor throughout the distribution of preferences process,” he said. “Given the corrections picked up on preference votes in the final stages of the distribution of preferences count, it is reasonable and appropriate to do an additional check of first preference papers for the two final candidates (ballot papers not required to be re-reviewed during a distribution of preferences).”
A margin of 100 votes or fewer means there is an automatic recount, but candidates can request one if there are sufficient grounds.
Daniel made a request for a recount on Saturday, “in light of the very tight margin and several errors being picked up in the portion of the count that was included in the distribution of preferences”.
Candidate requests for recounts are rarely granted, with the last undertaken by the AEC in McEwen in 2007.
A recount is also underway in Bradfield in NSW, where the margin was fewer than 100 votes.
The AEC spokesman was unable to say how much the recounts would cost.