3.30 PM
COUNCILLORS for all 10 divisions in Redland City have been declared and the latest results have been posted on the ECQ website.
THURSDAY 9AM
DESPITE no final word from the Electoral Commission of Queensland on the election results for Redland City, Peter Mitchell and Lance Hewlett look to have won their respective divisions.
Mr Mitchell regained his Division 2 (Cleveland and North Stradbroke Island) seat with 46.7 per cent of the votes beating Irene Henley, Callen Sorensen-Karklis and Frannie Ziebarth. This will be Mr Mitchell's second council term.
Mr Hewlett has taken victory in the Division 4 (Victoria Point, Coochiemudlo Island, Redland Bay) seat, beating Jarrod Noble by 4525 votes.
This will be Mr Hewlett's third council term.
WEDNESDAY 6.30PM
THE latest Redland City Division 9 results after distribution of preferences have been posted on the ECQ website.
Adelia Berridge won 54.15 per cent of the vote. This was enough for her to beat Paul Gleeson, who had 45.85 per cent.
WEDNESDAY 3PM
BUSINESSWOMAN and koala campaigner Adelia Berridge looks to have won the hotly contested Division 9 seat against former councillor Paul Gleeson.
Although the seat cannot be declared until distribution of preferences is finished, she appears to have the numbers for victory.
She was up against Mr Gleeson as well as Allison Wicks and James Farrell.
Mr Gleeson acknowledged defeat on his Facebook page and said the ECQ had refused his request for a recount.
He said while he won on the primary vote, he lost on preferences. Mr Gleeson congratulated Ms Berridge on her win.
The ECQ website has not been updated to show the latest results including the win for mayor Karen Williams.
The ECQ website count was last updated on April 14 2020 at 9:39pm.
TUESDAY 9AM
MARK Edwards has taken victory in the Division 5 seat, with 53.99 per cent of the vote.
He beat Ann Hagen, Junita Grosvenor and Hilton Travis in the Redland Bay, Bay Islands poll.
This will be Mr Edwards' third council term.
MONDAY 9AM
FIVE more Redland City councillors have been declared.
In Division 7 (Alexandra Hills, Capalaba, Thornlands) Rowanne McKenzie ended incumbent Murray Elliott's 23 year council run. She received 4869 votes (53.1 per cent) beating Mr Elliott by 568 votes.
Division 3 Cr Paul Golle, Division 6 Cr Julie Talty, Division 8 Cr Tracey Huges, Division 10 Cr Paul Bishop have reclaimed their seats.
THURSDAY 4PM
THE first winner of Redland City Council's 10 divisions has been declared.
Wendy Boglary has taken victory in the Division 1 seat, with 71.64 per cent of the vote this afternoon.
This was enough to get her the win over Corinne Tomasi, who had 28.36 per cent.
This will be Ms Boglary's fourth council term.
WEDNESDAY 11AM
REDLANDS drawn-out election may see a conservative voting bloc in place behind mayor Karen Williams which will signal a change in the council balance of power.
Cr Williams said she had expected most councillors to be returned and based on figures so far, it appeared that would be the case.
"There are still a couple of divisions that are too close to call and if I am returned I will respect the community by working with the councillors they have elected. People are tired of gutter politics, they want community representation," she said.
The Electoral Commission of Queensland continues to count Redland City votes.
TUESDAY 9AM
THE deadline for the submission of postal votes is 5pm today. Any ballot papers received after this will not be included in the count.
After the Electoral Commission of Queensland received the votes, they will be distributed to relevant councils for counting.
To date, a total of 23 mayors and 47 councillors across 32 local government areas have been officially declared as elected under section 100 of the Local Government Electoral Act 2011.
Redland City are currently awaiting the final results from the ECQ.
The 2020 local government elections will decide 578 mayors and councillors across 77 councils.
MONDAY 9AM
FEDERAL MP Andrew Laming has taken aim at the Electoral Commission of Queensland, after they delayed the counting of preference votes by nearly two weeks.
In email correspondence last Friday, the ECQ indicated they would not distribute preference votes from trailing candidates and determine winners until it was mathematically impossible for the trailing candidate to win.
Mr Laming said the ECQ should base calculations on past participation rates of about 80 per cent, and not 100 per cent.
"We know participation was lower than 80% due to COVID-19. Votes are now trickling in and counted by ECQ staff within an hour. A week ago was the time to count preferences," he said.
Mr Laming said the preference counting for the mayor would take three people about two hours to count and then double count.
"We should have had a mayor declared a week ago. I have spoken with the Minister Hinchcliffe's chief of staff but it is clear this is a case of an obdurate ECQ not even listening to their minister, let alone the desperate need for community leadership," Mr Laming said.
There is still a tight race in division 9 between Mr Gleeson, Allison Wicks and Adelia Berridge.
"Delaying that count is entirely appropriate. But council should be back at work with Cr Gleeson as caretaker until the eventual winner is declared," Mr Laming said.
THURSDAY 4PM
IT looks like Paul Gleeson may keep his seat for Division 9 as he has gained a lead on Allison Wicks and Adelia Berridge. It's been a close race which saw Ms Wicks in the lead up until yesterday.
The returning officers have started the official first preference count and all preliminary votes will be counted again as part of the official count.
In Division 7, young mum Rowanne McKenzie could end incumbent Murray Elliott's 23 year council run.
Wendy Boglary, Lance Hewlett, Julie Talty, Tracey Huges, Peter Mitchell, Paul Golle, Mark Edwards and Paul Bishop are likely to reclaim their seats.
THURSDAY 9AM
RESULTS in the local elections may only be finalised late next week.
According to the Queensland Electoral Commission finalisation of results and declarations of elections generally takes more than two weeks from the election date.
However the ECQ expected counting to take longer than usual, due to the large volume of postal votes that need to be returned, and changes in procedures to manage social distancing during the count process.
Local returning officers are completing the unofficial preliminary counts and commencing official counts in which the preliminary results are checked and re-counted.
Results are reported to the ECQ for verification and checking before being released on the ECQ's results website.
The ECQ will not declare results in individual elections until the formal count shows that it is mathematically impossible for any other candidate to be successful. This may be some time after candidates themselves declare or concede, particularly where the count is close.
The return and scrutiny of the approximately 570,000 postal votes from the local government elections is ongoing.
WEDNESDAY 1pm
KAREN Williams' four per cent lead over Claire Richardson is so far the narrowest of her last three campaigns.
Election results have continued to trickle in slowly, with than two thirds of the preliminary mayoral vote now counted.
In 2012, Cr Williams toppled Melva Hobson by a margin of nearly 40 per cent, and in 2016 won by about 12 per cent over Greg Underwood.
She won by a 25 per cent margin in her bid for Division 9 in 2008.
Lance Hewlett has a more dominant lead in Division 4, with about 75 per cent of the vote, while Julie Talty has similar numbers in Division 6.
In Division 7, young mum Rowanne McKenzie could end incumbent Murray Elliott's 23 year council run.
The Division 9 count has not moved since Tuesday, with Allison Wicks holding a slim lead in what looks to be a very close race.
With about 40 per cent of the Division 8 count completed, Tracey Huges has more than two thirds of the vote, with the remainder split nearly evenly between Keith Mearns and Greg Hill.
Wendy Boglary, Peter Mitchell, Paul Golle, Mark Edwards and Paul Bishop are likely to reclaim their seats.
TUESDAY 4pm
REDLANDERS could be waiting longer than expected for results from the weekend's local government election, with the vote count crawling on the Queensland Electoral Commission's website.
The site now shows more than 60 per cent of the mayoral vote counted, with Karen Williams not just edging ahead of Claire Richardson by about four per cent.
Cr Williams said it was difficult to trust the numbers on the ECQ site due to technical issues which started on Saturday night.
Ms Richardson was keeping herself busy while the count progressed.
"I am happy to wait until the ECQ declares the final outcome and in the meantime have returned to work," she said.
Postal votes close on April 7 and with a record number expected this year, voters could still be waiting a while for final results.
All other divisions are showing between 10 and 20 per cent counted, with the closest race being in Division 9 where candidates Allison Wicks, James Farrell, Paul Gleeson and Adelia Berridge have split the vote in nearly even quarters.
Ms Wicks currently leads with just one per cent over Ms Berridge.
All other sitting councillors have a comfortable lead, with the exception of Division 7's Murray Elliott who is trailing Rowanne McKenzie by about seven per cent.
MONDAY 10am
WITH about half the mayoral vote counted, incumbent Karen Williams has pulled ahead to gain a slight lead over Claire Richardson.
Cr Williams is sitting on 44 per cent, with Ms Richardson on 40 per cent.
David Curtin has 14 per cent of the vote.
More than 50,000 mayoral votes have so far been counted in the preliminary count.
The subsequent official count process will include the return of postal votes, scrutiny of declaration votes and allocation of preferences.
SUNDAY 1pm:
INCUMBENT mayor Karen Williams says it is difficult to to have any confidence in the current ECQ website and associated numbers after technical issues.
The site currently shows Cr Williams and strong contender Claire Richardson neck and neck, but with a record number of postal votes the final outcome may not be known until after April 7 when postal votes close.
Cr Williams described the election as a disaster within a disaster.
"The state changing legislation and insisting the election take place amongst the contrary COVID messaging to stay home sent everyone including ECQ workers into a spin.
"The rules seemed to change almost daily and sometimes hourly for candidates.
"I took hundreds of calls from residents who did not receive their postal vote ballot, or for those self isolating couldn't get through to telephone voting. Many older residents were distressed that they were unable to vote.
"Certainly many are questioning the integrity of the process."
SUNDAY 10am:
DESPITE technical issues delaying vote counts in Redland City, the latest results show an exciting mayoral race.
With nearly 40 per cent of the mayoral vote counted, Karen Williams and Claire Richardson are neck and neck.
Incumbents Wendy Boglary, Peter Mitchell, Paul Golle, Lance Hewlett, Julie Talty, Tracey Huges and Paul Bishop have comfortable leads in their divisions.
In Division 7 with nearly 20 per cent counted, Rowanne McKenzie had a slim lead over council veteran Murray Elliott.
Division 9 looks to be a close race with Allison Wicks just ahead of Adelia Berridge, incumbent Paul Gleeson and James Farrell.
SATURDAY:
POLLS have closed in one of the most unusual elections ever held in Queensland.
The election featured no cake stalls or barbecues, no queues and even no candidates and supporters harassing voters.
Changes were courtesy of the COVID-19 virus which saw about 55 per cent of Queenslanders vote early.
The Queensland Electoral Commission put this large pre-polling day vote down to early, postal and phone voting.
Here is the count so far:
COUNT AS AT 7.15PM: Scenic Rim has 6 per cent counted, Logan City 0.06 per cent but nothing yet for Redlands.
7.45PM: With just 2 per cent of the vote counted, sitting mayor Karen Williams has a slight lead on main challenger Claire Richardson.
11pm: With 12.5 per cent of the mayoral vote counted, Cr Williams was on 43.65 per cent, Ms Richardson on 39.32 per cent and Mr Curtin on 17.03 per cent. If the close count continues, preference flows between Mr Curtin and Ms Richardson could have an important bearing on the final result.
In division 3 sitting councillor Paul Golle had a good lead, with 13.6 per cent of the vote counted.
In the hotly contested division of Cleveland, Cr Peter Mitchell was leading, with 15.6 per cent of the vote counted.
In division 4, Cr Lance Hewlett was leading Jarrod Noble. Cr Mark Edwards was performing strongly in division 5 although only a small number had been counted. Cr Julie Talty was similarly ahead.
Tracey Huges was leading in division 8 with just 2 per cent counted.
Allison Wicks had a slender lead over Cr Paul Gleeson in division 9 while Cr Paul Bishop was performing strongly in division 10.
There were no results for division 7.