RESIDENTS and ratepayers will be able to follow the council election online, when the virtual tally room goes live on Saturday night.
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From 6pm results will be updated at votensw.info via the NSW Electoral Commission virtual tally room.
While officials will be busily counting the votes, the region probably won’t know the make up of its council until sometime next week.
Candidates are elected to council in a quota system. A quota is derived by the total number of formal votes divided by the total number of vacancies, plus one.
Once a candidate reaches a quota is elected, their surplus or extra votes above the quota are distributed to the remaining candidates.
Candidates with the lowest number of votes are then excluded and their ballot papers are redistributed according to the next choice shown.
This process continues until all the vacancies are filled.
In order to lodge a formal vote, people must number at least five boxes in order of preference.
But voters able, and encouraged, to give preferences for as many candidates as they wish.
From 6pm on Saturday night, counts for first preference votes for mayor, where the role is popularly elected such as Uralla, first preference counts for councillors from each polling place will commence.
Starting at 12 noon, Election Sunday, all councillor ballot papers will undergo a check count.
This involves the preparation and data entry of ballot papers into the NSWEC's Proportional Representation Computer Count (PRCC) data entry system.
Councillor ballot papers are data entered twice known as round 1 and round 2 data entry. Only after all ballot papers for a Council or ward have been data entered and reconciled can the count be conducted for that contest.
For the first time in number of years, Tamworth voters will be handed a ballot paper with grouped candidates.
It is anticipated that all counts will be completed and results declared by the close of business Friday, 16 September.
