Updates surrounding the counting of votes for the 2024 Greater Shepparton City Council election continue to be drip-fed to the public.
As of 2pm on Wednesday, November 6, secondary updates for both Balaclava and Goulburn River wards had been released, with over 80 per cent of potential first-preference votes counted.
Shane Sali has secured 3213 votes in the Balaclava Ward — or 74.95 per cent — meaning he will secure the third spot on the new council, alongside Rod Schubert (Midland Ward) and Sam Spinks (Poplar Ward) who were elected unopposed.
Of the 5324 enrolled voters, postal votes for 4363 residents (81.95 per cent) have been counted.
The Victorian Electoral Commission states that “if a candidate has received an absolute majority, which is more than half (more than 50 per cent) of all first preference votes, a preference distribution is not required, and the candidate is successful”.
Diane Teasdale (14.65 per cent) and Rudo Makombe (10.40 per cent) have received 628 and 446 votes respectively.
In the Goulburn River Ward, 4045 of a potential 4861 (83.21 per cent) votes have been tallied.
Paul Wickham leads with 1196 (30.10 per cent) votes, from Emmersyn Rea (951 or 23.94 per cent), Sherri Smith-Hoyer (799 or 20.11 per cent), Simon Wyatt (519 or 13.06 per cent), Severin Duhring (360 or 9.06 per cent) and Rowan Farren (148 or 3.73 per cent).