Colleen Fuller is leading Gunnedah’s preliminary first preference vote count late Saturday evening.
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At about 10.15pm Ms Fuller (1225) is well in front of next best Jamie Chaffey (827), Rob Hooke (809), Murray O’Keefe (724), Gae Swain (679), John Campbell (625) and Owen Halser (423).
This first preference distribution tally includes 4012 pre-poll votes and nearly 500 votes from outlying villages. It does not include declaration votes and some 200 postal votes which will not be counted until 6pm Monday when postal acceptance closes.
A team of about 35 bunkered down in the council’s training room to crunch the Gunnedah numbers on Saturday night. A team of about six will help distribute preferences later in the week after a day’s rest on Sunday.
Returning officer Ian Horwood said Gunnedah’s independently-run local government election was held without fuss.
“It always worries me when things run smoothly,” Ian said. “But things have gone pretty good.”
More complete preliminary election results will be posted on council’s website sometime Sunday.
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