The elections for Eurobodalla Council show that Mayor Mat Hatcher of the Advance Eurobodalla Group will be returned to the top job of Mayor with almost 38% of the vote so far. Behind him is long standing councillor Rob Pollock on almost 17% followed by Narooma’s Phil Constable on almost 15%

In the Councillor elections, the Advance Eurobodalla Group also gained 31% of the vote and looks likely to get three members elected.

This would likely be a Council made up of Mat Hatcher, Amber Schutz, Laurence Babbington, Phil Constable, Rob Pollock, Anthony Mayne, Colleen Turner, and possibly Sophia Keady and Sharon Winslade, all depending on preferences.

Of note was the very high Number of informal votes in the councillor election at 24.57%, however this was not reflected in the Mayoral vote with only %.45 % informal.

The NSW Electoral Commission issued a reminder that the number of informal votes in the 2024 Local Government elections will not be clear until much later in the vote count process. We expect all check counts to be completed week commencing 30 September. The website will be updated progressively.

Acting NSW Electoral Commissioner Dr Matthew Phillips said in the Initial count process several types of votes are allocated to the “Informal/Other” category in the NSW Electoral Commission’s Virtual tally room.

“At this early stage of the count process, the ‘Informal/Other” category does not just include informal votes. It also includes other types of votes that undergo further sorting and counting”, said Dr Phillips.

“For example, some candidates’ formal, Below the line votes are included in the ” Informal/Other” category votes figure category. In the Virtual tally room these candidates are marked with an asterix.”

“During the Check count, these votes will be reviewed and, if formal, moved out of the ”Informal/Other” group and included in the formal count numbers.”

Dr Phillips said the “Informal/Other” category also includes ballot papers that are unclear ballot papers, and formal ballot papers that are marked both Above and Below the line.

In the Check count, all ballot papers will be data entered into our computer count system where each ballot paper is re-checked for formality and sorted to their correct category.

After the Check count, the “Informal/Other” votes number will reduce as the votes initially allocated to this category undergo scrutiny by election officials.

While the atmosphere at prepoll in Moruya was largely convivial, inspectors from the AEC were called to the Batemans Bay prepoll station after complaints of jostling at voters and illegally placed coreflutes.