SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Blayney council candidate Michelle Pryse Jones has bolted onto council, giving the shire a female voice throughout its next term.
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Pryse Jones enjoyed strong support at the Millthorpe Public School booth (117 votes), Blayney Community Centre booth (93) and the Barry Hall (22) to garner around 15 per cent of the overall vote after the initial first preference votes were tallied across the shire.
Mrs Pryse Jones sits behind only incumbent councillors Scott Ferguson (21.74 per cent) and Bruce Reynolds (17.38) after the first count on Saturday night.
Eight candidates put their hat in the ring for the seven positions on Blayney's council ahead of the next term, and given the support for Mrs Pryce Jones she's expected to do just as well when the pre-poll and declaration votes are tallied this week.
SATURDAY NIGHT
Scott Ferguson's wish to continue on as a Blayney Shire Councillor has been emphatically backed by the community, with the incumbent mayor receiving almost 22 per cent of the first preference votes in Saturday's Local Government Elections.
Mr Ferguson has been on council for 21 years, and has served as mayor for the last nine, and he had that body of work given the thumbs up at the polls as the election's highest vote-earner.
Officially, 1938 first preference votes were counted as of 8pm on Saturday night, and Mr Ferguson had 398 of those votes.
Bruce Reynolds, also an incumbent and long-time councillor, proved popular on Saturday too, with 17 per cent of the vote and joins Mr Ferguson in the top two in the race to form Blayney's Shire Council for the next term.
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There were eight candidates on the ballot paper for this election, with seven councillors to be named.
The initial counting at the polling booths across the Blayney Shire - Barry Hall, Blayney Community Centre, Carcoar Public, Mandurama Public and Millthorpe Public - has wrapped up, with pre-poll and declaration votes set to make up the bulk of the count.
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There will be over 5400 votes count in the Blayney Local Government Area.
Michelle Pryse Jones has also done well at the polls, earning over 14.5 per cent of the vote while Allan Ewin (11.91 per cent) and David Somervaille (10.43 per cent) also earned large chunks of the first preference votes.
There has been 107 informal votes so far.
BLAYNEY FIRST PREFERENCE VOTES (from the polling booths, 1938 votes)
- Scott Ferguson - 398 (21.74 per cent)
- Bruce Reynolds - 319 (17.42)
- Michelle Pryse Jones - 266 (14.53)
- Allan Ewin - 218 (11.91)
- David Somervaille - 191 (10.43)
- Craig Gosewisch - 182 (9.94)
- John Newstead - 130 (7.10)
- Iris Dorsett - 127 (6.94)
*107 informal votes
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