Many in the Eurobodalla were dumbfounded to discover, after the 2016 Local Government elections that Council Jack Tait and Councillor Maureen Nathan were now elected councillors having received on fourteen votes and four votes respectively.
Eurobodalla had a voting roll in 2016 of 30,214 voters.
The 2016 election saw 23,983 turn out to vote
Of those 22,076 voted formally
In Australia, we have a preferential voting system. That means when you go to vote at an election, you are asked to number the candidates or parties on your ballot papers in order of choice.
You do this by putting a number one in the box next to your first-choice candidate, a two in the box next to your second choice, and so on.
Because Liz Innes was voted in as Mayor on the separate Mayoral Voting ballot paper all the her Councillor election paper votes and preferences trickled down to benefit the next on her ticket - being 14 Vote Jack Tait - it was like Christmas for Jack because he was immediately gifted 2453 votes. Why 2453?
To be a councillor you HAD to cross the QUOTA line and get the QUOTA that was set at the magic number of 2453
QUOTA: For example, if there were a total of 10 000 formal votes and 4 candidates to be elected, the quota would be: Quota (10 000 / (4 + 1)) + 1 = 2001
Eurobodalla Quota = 20,076 formal votes / (8 to be elected +1)+1 = 2453
That left 2374 unused Liz preferences left over for 4 Vote Maureen Nathan - but that wasn't enough to get her across the QUOTA line.
What came next was 45 recounts, eliminating the lowest candidate (there were 55) at each round, to then hand on their preferences. Eventually after the votes had been recounted 45 times 4 Votes Maureen Nathan managed to cross the line to join Brown, Constable and 14 Vote Jack
The next round of preferences saw Anthony Mayne cross the Quota line.
That then left the last three.
Neither Rob Pollock, Pat McGinlay or James Thomson made it across the line but because they had more votes than all the other eliminated candidates they were the last three to fill the require eight vacancies.
So that is how you can get into politics with only four or fourteen people voting for you.
In Maureen Nathan's case, she and her partner most likely voted for Maureen which means that only two voters out of 22,076 voted for her, and only thirteen voted for Jack. Both now get to vote for anything their CAA party chief tells them to, while they enjoy an annual $20,000 stipend that comes with free internet and hardware.
It is understood that 14 Vote Jack is going to throw his hat back in the ring in the September 2021 Council elections (no doubt hoping to improve his 13 vote). You might find him at Position Number 3 on the Innes Ticket behind, it is widely rumoured, Clr Pollock.
It is not known what 4 Vote Maureen has planned.
The distribution of preferences might not be so generous this time around. This might explain why Lindsay Brown is number crunching and doing deals in the background as he sets in place his campaign to knock the Mayor off her pedestal and return himself to where he feels he rightfully belongs.
