General News
13 June, 2025
VEC report shows vote decline
Voter participation for the latest council election is in slight decline, a recent report has found.
The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) have released a report detailing the operations and timeline of the 2024 council elections.
Compared to the 2020 elections, the overall participation rate declined from 86.43 percent to 83.39 percent — tailing the statewide statistics (excluding Melbourne City Council) which were 84.12 percent.
The voters’ roll is a combination of those listed on the Electoral Commissioner’s list (EC list) and the CEO list.
For overall participation the CEO’s list is the only data that saw a marked increase in participation, from 61.11 percent in 2020 to 90.29 percent in 2024 — far above the state data of 60.96 percent.
Beyond participation statistics the report also took locals into the results and counting of the ballots.
Of the 6,308 ballot paper envelopes submitted to the extraction process, which ensures voter anonymity, 20 were rejected while the rest went to a manual count.
In the count every ward bar one, being Paddy Ranges, was resolved on first preference votes. This means one candidate received more than half of voters first choice.
The three candidates of Paddys Ranges Ward meant a tight competition between two.
On first preferences the difference between Chris Meddows-Taylor and Ben Green was a single vote, 485 to 484.
After the preferential count, however, taking third candidate Gregory Corcoran out of the race, Cr Green came out on top with a lead of 39 votes following preference distribution.
The VEC Election Report was received and noted by the Central Goldfields Shire Council in last month’s council meeting.