Countback date for Grzybek vacancy revealed

THE countback to fill an extraordinary vacancy in Windermere Ward within the the City of Greater Geelong will take place at 10am on June 28, following the resignation of councillor Kylie Grzybek.

Ms Grzybek announced on May 29 that her last day as a councillor would be Friday last week, but her replacement that will join Anthony Aitken as a representative for Windermere Ward will miss the chance to influence the draft 2023/24 city budget, as councillors will discuss (and most likely pass) that at their meeting the night before, on June 27.

The vacancy will be filled by a countback of all formal votes from the Windermere Ward in the 2020 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.

There are three potential contenders: Sarah Hathway, Monique Connell and Enamul Haque.

The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) announced the date of the countback this morning (Monday, June 5), and the procedure is based on the proportional representation method of counting.

“The candidate who achieves the quota will be elected. 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,” VEC election manager Roger Millar said.

The countback will be held online via webinar. A link to the countback will be made available on the VEC website from 9.30am on June 28 at vec.vic.gov.au

Candidates and interested parties may observe the countback.

The result will be published online at vec.vic.gov.au and in local newspapers.