Shellharbour Council has unanimously agreed the results in Ward A should stand in its Supreme Court fight against the NSW Electoral Commission.
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The NSW Electoral Commission has launched legal action in the Supreme Court seeking a ruling on the validity of results in three local government area elections - Kempsey, Singleton and Ward A in Shellharbour - after the iVote system crashed on election day, leaving thousands of people unable to cast their vote.
In Shellharbour, independent candidate Kellie Marsh and Labor candidate Maree Edwards were declared victors in Ward A. However, Cr Edwards finished ahead of Independent Shane Bitschkat by only four votes and 54 people failed to vote because of the bungle.
Mayor Chris Homer tabled a three-point motion outlining the council didn't support a rate-payer funded re-election in Ward A and if it is called, it should only be for a second place candidate.
Both Cr Marsh and Cr Edwards declared they had a conflict of interest in the matter and Cr Marsh excused herself from the meeting before they began debating the motion, which was voted down.
However, Cr Edwards stayed in the meeting and voted on the motions put forward, which "shocked" Cr Marsh.
"It was the right thing to do because I have been named as a defendant in a Supreme Court case," she said.
"Cr Edwards is in the same position yet she stayed in the chamber, listened to confidential advice and voted on the two motions.
"I was shocked she made that decision.
"Doing the right and moral thing and excusing myself was a no-brainer."
Cr Edwards argued at the meeting that December's vote should be maintained and that the likelihood is if the 54 failed votes were registered, they would have been in her favour.
"This attempt to overturn the election result is more about politics and lawfare in my opinion," she said.
"You could describe us as crash test dummies.
"The action (of the NSW Electoral Commission going to the Supreme Court) is unprecedented and one can only question the true motives.
"Hypothetically, the 54 failed iVotes, hypothetically, is the big issue here, the 54 iVotes were likely to follow the same pattern."
Cr Robert Petreski tabled a motion at Tuesday's meeting, requesting council strongly reject the Supreme Court matter.
The motion said the council would not support a council-funded re-election in Ward A, that there should be no further election in Ward A and the results that stood on the December declaration should be accepted.
He also stated the council would seek costs from being "dragged into" the matter.
The motion was passed unanimously.
Although his motion was turned down, mayor Chris Homer said he was happy to for the council to move forward and for the issue to be resolved.
The matter will be heard in the Supreme Court on Friday.
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