A COUNTBACK procedure to fill an extraordinary vacancy in Swan Hill Rural City Council following following the resignation of newly elected Member for Mildura Jade Benham will be conducted on January 16.
The vacancy will be filled by a countback of all formal votes from the 2020 Swan Hill Rural City 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 vacancy.
The countback is based on the proportional representation method of counting.
“The candidate who achieves the quota will be elected,” election manager Charmaine Morel said.
“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,” she said.
The countback will be held online via webinar at 11am.
A link to the countback will be made available on the VEC website from 10.30am on Monday, January 16 at vec.vic.gov.au.
Scrutineers and interested parties may attend and observe the countback.
