Our mayor and deputy mayor elected in 2023 are leading first preference voting with Group B after the initial count of ballot papers in the Parkes shire council election.
By Tuesday, the NSW Electoral Commission's virtual tally room showed Neil Westcott had received 16.2 per cent of first preference votes in the initial count, Glenn Wilson's Group B 12.83 per cent and deputy mayor Marg Applebee 11.57 per cent.
But our next serving council won't be finalised until between October 1 and 3, with the check count now under way and the crucial distribution of preferences only taking place after postal votes are complete.
Postal voting remains open until 6pm on Friday, September 27, with the distribution of preferences to take place from Monday, September 30.
Results will be declared between October 1 and 3, the NSW Electoral Commission has advised.
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Between now and then, check counting and data entry of ballot paper preferences into the NSW Electoral Commission computer count system is taking place.
As of Tuesday, September 17, the first preference votes in the initial count were:
Neil Westcott 1,159 first preference or 16.2pc of formal votes
Group B 918 first preference or 12.83pc of formal votes
Marg Applebee 828 or 11.57pc
Douglas Pout 620 or 8.67pc
Group A 437 or 6.11pc
Louise O'Leary 428 or 5.98pc
Bill Jayet 423 or 5.91pc
Kenny McGrath 411 or 5.75pc
Alan Flavel 305 or 4.26pc
Joy Paddison 283 or 3.96pc
George Pratt 255 or 3.56pc
Samuel Jordan 195 or 2.73pc
Jacob Cass 189 or 2.64pc
Ken Keith 192 or 2.68pc
Darren Stevenson 148 or 2.07pc
Neil Hamilton 127 or 1.78pc
Anthony Barrott 120 or 1.68pc
Irene Ridgeway 68 0.95pc
Graeme Hunter 33 or 0.46pc
Hamish Ritchie 15 or 0.21pc
The check count has now commenced, with every ballot paper to be examined and entered into the NSW Electoral Commission's computer count system by two operators.
The progressive quota - or the number of first preference votes a candidate needs to be elected - was given as 651.
Once a candidate has reached the quota they are considered elected, and their votes are transferred to continuing candidates based on the next candidates numbered.
Once that's complete, the candidates with the lowest number of votes are excluded from the count and the preferences from their votes are distributed.
This distribution of preferences can only take place after the postal votes have been counted, but a time will be scheduled for each shire and it only takes the pressing of a button to start the process through the NSW Electoral Commission's computer count system.
