The Covid-19 outbreak centred on Fairfield in south-western Sydney has shone a new light on a weak point in the NSW local government electoral system. The choice of a private company to run Fairfield’s local council election to save money will mean that the council is left on its own to run the election in current circumstances, and will miss out on the support of the NSW Electoral Commission.
So the NSW local government election is scheduled to be held on September 4, which is less than seven weeks away.
There’s been a lot of comments on various electorate profiles about the federal election that have been a bit more general than about a particular seat, and I’ve had a few requests for an open thread to discuss the federal election.
I’m working on a couple of other blog posts I’m hoping to put up later this week.
I have posted another two seat guides for the federal election as freebies for everyone to read: Boothby and Gilmore. With so many people still stuck under lockdown I thought people might enjoy having something to read.
These two seats are both very marginal, one is held by Labor and the other Liberal.
The draft electoral boundaries for Victoria’s next state election were released on Wednesday. Significant population growth on the outer fringe of Melbourne has seen significant changes over the last eight years. This has resulted in three seats being abolished and three others split in half. Meanwhile one of the eight upper house regions has significantly changes character, and name, as it moves further north of the Yarra.
The Australian Electoral Commission yesterday announced the final boundaries for Victoria for the next federal election.
I don’t have any detailed or complete analysis because they have not published any maps or data, just descriptions of the changes.
They have made changes to 13 seats compared to the draft boundaries, most of which are seats in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, along with some changes in western Victoria.
I have just completed the first stage of the guide to the next federal election, and I’m now making it available as a reward for people who support this website, with the guide to be publicly released down the track.
New York City is currently undergoing their first experience of using ranked-choice voting, otherwise known as preferential voting, in a major election. It is being used for the primaries for the mayor of New York City along with other local offices.
The Democratic mayoral primary will effectively decide the election, with whoever wins almost certainly going on to win the general election.
The Australian Electoral Commission has announced the final boundaries for Western Australia for the next federal election.
While they have announced what changes have been made to the draft boundaries, they have only provided this information through the use of words describing the changes. No maps, no data.
6:00 – Polls have just closed in the NSW state by-election for the seat of Upper Hunter. This is a key contest in a very marginal seat, with the Nationals under threat from Labor, One Nation and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party. You can bide your time before the results come out by reading my guide to the by-election, which features at least 44 comments as of Saturday afternoon.