Sharon Cadwallader is poised to take on her second term as Ballina Shire Mayor after Saturday’s Election Day official vote-counting showed the independent had a clear lead.
Ms Cadwallader had won more than 45 per cent of first preference mayoral votes in the Ballina Shire by the time voting finished around ten o’clock Saturday night and by 11am Monday was sitting on 49.84 per cent.
The incumbent mayor reportedly claimed victory in a gathering at the Lennox Surf Club after polling booths closed Saturday night.
Her closest competitor was Kiri Dicker for The Greens with more than 20 per cent of first preferences counted, a decrease from the almost 26 per cent reflected at Saturday night’s final count.
Andrew Broadley was the only other openly progressive candidate, representing Labor and winning more than ten per cent of first preferences counted.
The figures suggested neither candidate could come close enough to challenge Ms Cadwallader, even if their voters put both candidates at the top of their preferences.
Mr Broadley had barely registered more first preferences than Independent Kevin Loughrey.
Incumbent Independent Phil Meehan, who also ran and lost against Ms Cadwallader in 2021’s mayoral race, had failed to register double digits for first preferences at 8.36 per cent.
This year there were nearly 3,000 more registered voters in the Ballina Shire than in 2021.
Nearly 17,000 of more than 35,000 registered voters were accounted for when counting finished Saturday night, fewer than half the electorate, but it’s unlikely everyone will vote.
Fewer than 27,000 votes were counted in the 2021 Ballina mayoral election.
The Greens v Cadwallader in all three Ballina wards
Saturday’s counting in Ballina’s three wards suggested four candidates were on track to win an ordinary council seat, Ms Cadwallader and Ms Dicker in B Ward, incumbent Greens Cr Simon Chate in C Ward and Independent Simon Kinny, also in C Ward for the Cadwallader team.
Dr Kinny ran on Ms Cadwallader’s ticket in 2021 but missed out on a seat.
Assuming Ms Cadwallader regains the title of mayor, she will be excluded from the ordinary council seat tally with preferences going to newcomer teammate Michelle Bailey.
Three candidates are to be elected from each ward and Labor’s Andrew Broadley was the closest on primary votes to achieving quota for the third seat in B Ward but preferences could yet favour any candidate.
The candidate to win the third seat for C Ward would depend largely on preferences from Greens voters, with the party only fielding one candidate in the ward and looking likely to have a surplus of votes.
Independent Shona Barrett was the closest underperforming C Ward candidate to achieve the progressive quota ratio for a council seat by end of Saturday but a surplus of votes for Dr Kinnny combined with yet to be revealed preferences meant the Cadwallader team still had a chance of winning a second seat in C Ward.
None of the candidates had reached the progressive quota ratio for a seat in A Ward by Monday morning’s vote count resumption.
The Greens’ Erin Karsten was the closest, at 0.83, followed by Cadwallader group member Damian Loone at 0.69 and Labor’s Maria Marshall at 0.56, with Labor again only narrowly ahead of Mr Loughrey.
Parting lamentations from Bruem on likely progressive council
Overall, early results indicated Ms Cadwallader was likely to lead the council with her team in the minority.
Outgoing Independent Cr Rodney Bruem, who won his seat on the Cadwallader ticket in 2021 but pulled out of the 2024 race, posted to social media bemoaning the possibility of a more progressive Ballina council.
‘Similar success by the Greens and ALP in neighboring (SIC) Byron Shire will have a massive impact on economic growth on the North Coast with both parties strongly opposed to development including plans for any realistic expansion of the already challenged domestic water supply,’ Mr Bruem wrote, presumably referring to the controversial Dunoon Dam project idea.
Whereas Ms Cadwallader and The Greens fielded candidates in all three of Ballina’s wards, Labor only fielded one candidate in each of the A and B wards.
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