THE OCTOBER council elections are the first for some time to be conducted under the preferential voting system.
So, what should you do?
There are likely to be five or six candidates seeking election in Toodyay so you can number any number of boxes from one to five or six to select candidates in your order of preference.
It is your choice.
The first thing to remember is that you must number the candidates.
If you just put a tick or cross in, say, three boxes, your vote will be invalid and rejected.
Read more
The electoral officers will be unable to determine your order of preference, and three candidates can’t all get your first vote.
So, how does this system work?
As there are three vacancies, the system will work similar to the Australian Senate elections.
The number of votes cast and the number of positions will be used to determine a “quota”.
Once candidates achieve the quota, they are declared elected and any excess votes are distributed according to their preferences.
This is a simplified explanation as it is going to be a time-consuming procedure with votes being counted several times to allocate preferences.
Two important things: make sure you number boxes, but the most important thing is to cast your vote.
Peter Ruthven
West Toodyay
