Chaos which caused voters to wait almost an hour for ballot papers has almost caused Logan City Council election turmoil.
On Sunday morning, it seemed the challenger for Division 12 (Beenleigh/Eagleby) Nate Hamon was about to cause an upset.
He was leading sitting councillor Karen Murphy by 67 votes, and wondering how many more that might have been if the Electoral Commission of Queensland had not run out of papers in his heartland Eagleby.
Mr Hamon said some people went home, some came back and others went to other polling stations.
However, he conceded late Sunday that it probably wasn’t enough to impact the overall result.
Cr Murphy polled strongly in mobile offices on Sunday and was likely to poll well from postal votes later in the week.
She was leading the count by more than 200 votes and was strongly favoured to win the division and retain her position on council.
“At the end of the day, it’s up to the people,” Cr Murphy said.
She said the result would not change a $23 million investment to upgrade Beenleigh pool, and would not change the work she’d done to improve parks, “oodles of CCTV cameras” and other upgrades to the Beenleigh area.
“There is still heaps of work to be done,” she said.
“Our area has been a little bit forgotten, so I’ve tried to cater to that. Lots of money is coming to the area.”
Mr Hamon said he was late to the election and an upset result was now unlikely.
But he said he’d been able to raise important issues for the area – things he’d continue to fight for from outside the council chambers.
“I was always the underdog,” he said.
“I will continue to fight for issues that impact our community – there are holes in the roads, unsealed roads and hazard cones everywhere.”
Mr Hamon said he would call for an investigation into the tender process within council.
In another close contest, Paul Jackson was 4% ahead of Sovannary Uk on primary votes in Division 5.
Preferences from Zoe McDonnell (21%) could play a role in determining the final result.
In other divisions, all sitting councillors would retain their positions.
