Two countback procedures to fill extraordinary vacancies within Moira Shire Council will take place at 11am on Tuesday, December 6 and Monday, December 12.
The first countback follows the resignation of Councillor John Beitzel which will take place by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) on the Tuesday with the second countback to follow six days later to fill Cr Libro Mustica’s seat within council which will take place on the following Monday from 11am.
The vacancies will be filled by two separate countbacks of all formal votes from the 2020 Moira Shire Council election (instead of voters voting in a by-election).
Votes will be redistributed to candidates who were unsuccessful at that general election, and who remain eligible to participate in the countback, to fill the extraordinary vacancies.
Based on first preferences from the 2020 council election Yarrawonga resident Geoff Campbell is a front runner to be elected on council with Wendy Buck also likely to pick up the second vacancy.
On first preferences alone Geoff Campbell (683 first preference votes), who previously held a seat on the original Yarrawonga Shire and Wendy Buck (654 votes), who held a seat on the Moira Shire before the last election, were next highest on the 2020 election count tally and the new vacancies are expected to be filled by the two should they both accept.
If Mr Campbell and Ms Buck join council, this would give the Yarrawonga region a majority representation of seven out of nine councillors in the chamber.
Other unsuccessful candidates that were part of the 2020 election were Scott Olson from Koonoomoo (497 votes), Yarrawonga based Don McPhee (475 votes) and Bundalong based Fred Douglas (363 votes).
Mr Campbell told the Chronicle last week that it was too early to say whether he would accept the position on council should he be successful in the countback and that there were three candidates who would be close.
Ms Buck said she would accept especially after already having experience on council.
“I am thinking with the current state of the shire with a monitor and recommendations, that my 10 years experience in local government and being a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors with my expertise in Governance would be an asset at this time,” Ms Buck said.
The countbacks are based on the proportional representation method of counting.
“The candidate who achieves the quota will be elected. If no participating candidate achieves the quota, following the distribution of votes to participating candidates, the candidate with the highest number of countback votes will be elected,” Election Manager Kathy Georgiou said.
The countbacks will be held online via webinar. A link will be made available on the VEC website at vec.vic.gov.au at 10:30 am on the morning of each countback.