CONCERN and confusion over teams on the Bathurst Regional Council ballot paper remains a significant issue for local voters.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The first question from the floor at Thursday’s candidates’ forum sought an explanation for why council hopefuls had chosen to run as part of a team rather than alone.
The question also sought also some explanation for how preference flows would work at the September 9 poll.
Candidates had some difficulty clearly explaining their answer to both questions.
Most confusing for many voters is just how members of an above-the-line can also call themselves independents. It’s a reasonable question.
Stuart Driver was one who tried to explain his position but nothing a candidate says on this issue sounds particularly convincing.
Mr Driver assured the crowd he had always intended to run for council and was prepared to do so as a solo candidate before being invited to run as number four on mayor Graeme Hanger’s ticket.
We’ll never know how Mr Driver would have polled as a solo candidate but he can’t have had high hopes if he thinks he can do better running as a number four.
Mr Driver stresses he is a genuine, independent candidate who is running on a ticket but that’s asking voters to allow him the best of both worlds.
Nick Packham was another to stumble on this one. Mr Packham, who is running as a solo candidate, said it was interesting that none of the sitting candidates seeking re-election had “backed themselves” to run on their own merits and were all embracing the relative safety of leading a ticket.
Only problem – as Bobby Bourke took great delight in sharing with the crowd – was that Mr Packham had planned to lead a ticket himself and even had five names ready to go before it all fell apart.
Monica Morse is leading a ticket because she wants two other candidates – Rebecca Mathie and Janelle Lindsay – to be elected.
Given Cr Morse received just 580 primary votes last time round and even after the distribution of preferences fell almost 700 votes short of a full quota, it’s hard to see how she might triple her vote to get her number two on council, or more than quadruple it to get a number three on as well.
Again, Ms Mathie and Ms Lindsay might have done better to run as solo candidates.
Or better yet, as we’ve said before, maybe we should get rid of ticket voting at council elections altogether.
