Shellharbour city councillors have given the NSW Electoral Commission a serve - refusing to fork out more than half a million dollars to run the 2024 election.
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With bitterness still lingering from the iVote drama in the December 2021 elections, which forced a new election in Ward A, councillors opted to go with another provider - even if the cost was higher.
At Tuesday night's meeting councillors had to make a decision on who would run the upcoming Shellharbour election.
Despite what many may have thought, the NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC) doesn't run local council elections for free.
In 2019 the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal reviewed local government election costs in NSW.
Among its findings was that councils should bear a larger proportion of the NSWEC's costs.
Documents before Shellharbour councillors on Tuesday night outlined the money council would need to pay the commission were it to carry out the vote for the 2024 election.
"The estimated cost provided by the NSWEC to conduct the election for Shellharbour City Council is $608,128," council papers stated.
"As a comparison, the cost to council for the last election was $501,387.72."
Kiama Municipal Council discussed this issue last week, deciding to pay $240,594 to the NSWEC to run its election.
This funding goes towards election staffing, venues, ballot paper printing, council-specific advertising and voter information packs.
The only other option listed in the council papers was private business the Australian Election Company.
"A cost estimate has been provided by the Australian Election Company (AEC) for comparison purposes but these costs are indicative only and it significantly exceeds the cost estimate of the NSWEC," council papers stated.
During the council debate, Mayor Chris Homer noted the AEC price was around 50 per cent more expensive than the NSWEC offer and that the iVote system would not be used in 2024.
However, councillors Kellie March and Maree Duffy-Moon - who were both forced to run again in Ward A - did not want anything to do with the NSWEC.
"I'll go back to the first elections at this current council - it was an absolute debacle," Cr Marsh said.
"As we all know we had epic, epic failure of the iVote system. You could see the whole election was going to be a problem. It wasn't just about COVID, it wasn't just the iVote system, it was about systematic failure at the NSWEC."
Cr Duffy-Moon raised the issue of how she and Cr Marsh had to go to court and fight the NSWEC over the election.
"It was handled so poorly - we had to go and fight for democracy, for voters to be able to have their vote fairly and then we had to continue to fight after that," Cr Duffy-Moon said.
"So from my point of view the NSWEC failed massively."
The staff recommendation to go with the electoral commission was rejected by councillors, with only Cr Homer and Cr John Davey voting in favour.
A new motion put forward by Cr Marsh delegated authority to General Manager Mike Archer to negotiate with AEC - or any other election providers that may arise before the 2024 election.
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
