Kempsey Shire council election declared void by Supreme Court after Electoral Commission iVote system crash

The NSW Supreme Court on Thursday approved an application by the NSW Electoral Commission to void the result of the local government election in three shires, including Kempsey, and ordered that a new election be held.

The entire councillor election result will be voided when the court hands down formal orders on April 5. The new election will need to be held within three months of that date.

The Kempsey Mayoral election was not materially impacted and the election of Kempsey Shire Mayor Leo Hauville was not challenged by the Electoral Commission. As such he will remain in office until the next local government election in 2024.

Read more: Kempsey election results called into question

Mayor Hauville said the result was hugely disappointing for the eight councillors

"I am very disappointed by this decision as the eight councillors have impressed me with both their incredibly hard work and the attitude that they have exhibited under exceptional and stressful times," he said.

"Democracy is not easy at the best of times. This decision makes it even more of a challenge for the Kempsey community to participate.

"I would like to thank our current councillors for their efforts and I hope that they will all run for office once more as each of them have much to offer."

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The councillors will continue to serve until the new local government election is held later this year.

Kempsey Shire Council General Manager, Craig Milburn, said the decision would disadvantage the organisation and the community.

"Council has argued against a new election from the outset as it will cause huge financial cost and community uncertainty at a time when our shire is already responding to the dual impacts of flood and COVID," he said.

The Court emphasised that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the candidates who were named as defendants and noted that they regrettably would bear the burden of the failure of the iVote system.

The NSW Electoral Commission revealed in December that some users of their iVote system were unable to gain access to the system to vote in the local government elections due to technical issues in the process run by the commission.

In the case of Kempsey Shire Council there were 34 electors who were approved by the Electoral Commission but were unable to vote and did not vote by other means.

Analysis of the potential outcome of those 34 votes is what promoted John Schmidt, the Electoral Commissioner to seek a declaration that our councillor election be declared void.

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