- Sub Main Menu
- sunshine coast
- noosa
- coolum
- national
- world
Mostly sunny min 19° - max 25° 'Lost' votes will help McKay across line
Published 12:00a.m. 17th March 2008
Updated 10:48a.m. 17th March 2008
Maroochy councillor Jenny McKay looks set to win a seat on the new Sunshine Coast council after a voting stuff-up robbed her of about 600 votes on the weekend.
While on the weekend polling was showing former Maleny councillor Winston Johnston as the clear leader, the latest tally now shows Ms McKay ahead by 91 primary votes.
She had 4968 votes today while Mr Johnston has 4877.
Ms McKay said a simple human error meant about 600 votes for her from Woombye were counted towards Mr Johnston on the weekend.
"It makes a huge difference,'' she said of the change.
With preferences from Dick Newman expected to flow strongly to her, Ms McKay said she was looking forward to taking a place on the new council.
Ms McKay said Mr Johnston had run a slick and expensive campaign. "I always knew it was going to be tight,'' she said.
"Winston ran a very, very expensive and slick campaign. He was also remembered for his time on Caloundra council both favourably and unfavourably.''
"He put a lot of money into it it. Every time someone opened the mailbox there was something from him.''
Ms McKay, as one of the few Maroochy survivors, said she was looking forward to working with former Noosa mayor Bob Abbot. "We have all got to work well together,'' she said, saying there was a huge challenge to lead the Coast forward.
Three divisions still hang in the balance
It is safe to say who eight of our new councillors will be, but doubt still remains over divisions 3, 4 and 10, where preference, pre-poll and postal votes may dethrone the front runners.
After the counting of every vote cast at a polling booth, Chris Thompson is leading in division 4 by only 427.
Keryn Jones may make it on preferences in division 3, trailing ex-Caloundra councillor Danny O’Kearney by only 319 votes.
In division 10, Paul Tatton is only just lagging behind Greg Rogerson by 209.
The counting continued from 8am yesterday.
Division 1
76.19% of total votes counted by 8.23pm. 15,609 enrolled.
Anna Grosskreutz - 6002
Dell Winkler - 2915
Steve Attrill - 2603
Division 2
65.63% counted by 8.44pm. 15,922 enrolled.
Tim Dwyer - 5009
Michael Costigan - 753
Maureen Beer - 699
Ron Strong - 1165
Greg Singh - 2144
Deborah Taylor - 402
Division 3
To be decided. 71% counted by 8.14pm. 15,340 enrolled.
Danny O’Kearney - 2858
Danny McGuire - 1591
Gordon Wallace - 1553
Keryn Jones - 2539
Chris Cummins - 2072
Division 4
To be decided. 69% counted by 9.46pm. 17,785 enrolled.
Chris Thompson - 5702
Andrew Champion - 5275
Phillip Mannell - 930
Division 5
75% counted by 9.10pm. 17,904 enrolled.
Winston Johnston - 4968
Jenny McKay - 4877
Dick Newman - 2727
Ron Green - 737
Ron Campbell - 425
Division 6
75% counted by 9.23pm. 15,996 enrolled.
Christian Dickson - 6588
Lucretia Wheeler - 2302
Tom Hulett - 2030
Eve Landers - 828
Division 7
73% counted by 8.21pm. 15,738 enrolled.
Ted Hungerford - 5226
Lachlan Millar - 3269
Ken O’Flaherty - 2633
Division 8
69% counted by 8.47pm. 16,914 enrolled.
Debbie Blumel - 5636
Tony Northey - 3492
Jeff Watson - 2211
Division 9
73% of vote counted by 9.12pm. 16,438 enrolled.
Vivien Griffin - 4993
Bruce Dunne - 3305
Cate Molloy - 1784
Ross Duncan - 1575
Division 10
71% counted by 8.05pm. 16,045 enrolled.
Greg Rogerson - 3879
Paul Tatton - 3670
Alexina Johnson - 2278
Anthony Beezley - 1194
Division 11
66% counted by 8.04pm. 16,937 enrolled.
Russell Green - 6178
Frank Wilkie - 3585
Bob Jarvis - 1235
Division 12
71% counted by 8.27pm. 16,352 enrolled.
Lew Brennan - 4316
Brian Lindfield - 2814
Aaron White - 1683
Ian Haycroft - 1300
John Morrall - 1084
Gympie Regional Council - (mayor)
Ronald Dyne - 8650
Mick Vernardos - 4332
Ron Owen - 3344
Peter Cantrell - 2772
George Groth - 1629
Daniel Tabone - 547
For our election coverage, visit our election '08 page.
- 1I'll keep tagging, graffiti fan says
- 2Do you want daylight saving here?
- 3Noosa fire under control
- 4Two in hospital after highway crash
- 5Stay safe near snakes
- 6Rent hikes create turbulence at airport
- 7Internet affair ends in carnal knowledge charge
- 8Nudists spin bottle for nude beach
- 9Australia Zoo Irwin rift deepens
- 10Rob Guest inspired Coast youth
Recent Comments
After almost a year of knowing about it, the Queensland Electoral Commission could not get it right with many people,especially in Div 10, not receiving there postal voting papers in time to vote therefore denying them a choice.
Another thing that is wrong is the preferential voting system that is in place. As far as I am concerned it is first past the post is the winner, none of this back room deals that seem to be taking place.
Why would someone vote for a certain candidate only to find out that a deal has been done and the person who comes second actually finishes up winning, what sought of democracy is that?
As i wrote yesterday,
well you see this is where Rogo shot himself in the foot, again
from yesterday's paper in regards to preference voting:
Paul Tatton: Alexina Johnson. “Alexina and I are good friends and we have worked well together, reason decided pref each other.”
Greg Rogerson: None. “I don’t think people realise if they give a preference you are basically giving a vote to each of those two people."
SunBus 610, 20.67% voted for Alexina Johnson, and 33.30% for Tatton- total of 53.97% of the division.
Rogo got 35.20% of the vote- more people preferred Johnson OR Tatton than Rogo- thats how preferences work.
Another example of Rogo's selfishness- he was obviously unwilling to work as a team, and it has been his undoing- perhaps if he had done a preference deal he might have got in.
Congratulations Paul on your narrow win, now is the time to stand your ground and make yourself heard.
The voters put the numbers on the paper.
The candidates provide advice to voters on the how to vote pamphlet.
The voters decide whether they take the advice on the 'how to vote' pamphlet or not.
It's helpful to advise people who are voting for you which other candidates have values most closely aligned to yours.
People get a first choice, a second choice,a third and so on and in the end the least popular loses.
It can't be better than that, though some politicians who have no tolerance for people to choose do prefer the hard line 'you're either with me or against me.'
Have your say
We welcome comments on our stories and blogs - after all it's your site. Please note comments should be on-topic and not abusive. Comments are checked before publication.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts
Your comments will be checked, for legal reasons, before being posted live.
Thanks again for contributing to the Daily's online community.
We value your views.
Comment again