The “Donkey Vote” may have played a significant role in the outcome of the recent election – not the Democrat donkey in the US election – but the unthinking completion by voters in the Council election of a full preferential ballot paper numbering the candidates sequentially starting at the top of the ballot paper. Such votes count as formal votes, and if this occurs for a substantial proportion of the ballots submitted, they can influence the outcome of an election.
In the recent Hepburn Shire Council election, 232 ballot papers (2.8% of the formal vote) were numbered 1 to 12 starting at the top. This method of voting favoured Don Henderson who was at the top of the ballot paper. Donkey votes constituted 9.5% of Cr Henderson’s 2440 first preference votes.
Cr Henderson was well above the quota required for election (in this case the quota was 1300 votes) so his preferences were distributed to other candidates in order to determine the outcome. Tony Clark benefited greatly not because Henderson directed preferences to him, but because he was second on the ballot paper. Cr Henderson listed Clark 5th on his how-to-vote card but he received the bulk of Henderson’s preference distribution (26%) compared to Henderson’s actual 2nd preference, Lesley Hewitt, who received 25% of those preferences. Cameron Stone, who was Cr Henderson’s third preference, received only 11% of Henderson’s preferences and finished 8th, a mere 17 votes behind Shirley Cornish.
Cr Hewitt and Cr Hood had much more effective preference flows. Both listed Cameron Stone as their second preference. Forty seven percent of Hood’s preferences flowed to Stone as did 39% of Hewitt’s preferences. Had similar proportions of voters followed Cr Henderson’s preferences, Cameron Stone would almost certainly have been elected ahead of Shirley Cornish but the donkey vote intervened and sent the bulk Henderson’s preferences to Tony Clark instead.
Bernie Winfield-Gray benefited from a “reverse donkey” vote with voters starting numbering at the bottom of the ballot. Fifty six reverse donkey votes (0.6% of the formal vote and 12% of Winfield-Gray’s first preferences) were cast.
The total number of ballots received (11,021) represents an 83.3% participation, down very slightly from the last council election. Of the ballots received, 5.7% (629) were informal and 2.6% (288) were donkey votes. Had those unthinking voters simply voted informally, the outcome may have been different.
The new un-subdivided election structure imposed by the state government meant that it was difficult for voters to get to know all of the candidates and this may have contributed to the high proportion of informal and donkey votes. Candidates who nominated for re-election were all Mayors at one time, were well known across the Shire and generally benefited by increased first preference votes. Based on 2020 results, Henderson increased his first preferences votes by 43%, Hood increased 54%, Hewitt increased by 54%. Tim Drylie, who was the endorsed Greens candidate for this election, was the only candidate to suffer a decrease of 20% in first preference votes but this was also the case for many Green’s candidates in urban electorates.
Local advocacy groups such as Hepburn Matters appeared to have failed to gain traction outside their own communities.
The daunting task of getting their (self-funded) message out to the whole of the Shire, rather than a much more localised ward, may well have turned potential candidates away. There were only 12 candidates in this election compared to 29 in the last Council election under the previous ward system.
There was a significant loss of voters with 1960 fewer non-resident property owners being registered compared to the previous election. This was a result of a new process which required non-resident land owners to opt-in to the electoral roll rather than being automatically included. This contributed to an 11% reduction in the total number of registered voters to 13,232 despite an increase in the Shire’s population. The change affected Daylesford and Hepburn Springs to a much greater extent because of the high proportion of rental properties in the area.
Related Stories:
New Hepburn Shire Council Sworn In but Challenges Await
