Kempsey Shire to return to the polls for council by-election next month

At the election all eight councillor roles for the Kempsey local government area will be re-elected.

The NSW Electoral Commission announced the date late on Monday June 6 after weeks of consideration since the conclusion of the NSW Supreme Court case.

To update your enrolment details online or to obtain a residential enrolment form visit aec.gov.au or call 13 23 26. Enrolment forms must be received by 6pm Monday June 20, 2022.

The Supreme Court wrapped up proceedings on Thursday May 5 having approved the application by the NSW Electoral Commission to void the result of the local government election in three shires, including Kempsey, requiring a by-election be held.

The eight councillors declared elected following the election in December last year will remain in the role until the day of the election.

The Kempsey mayoral election was not materially impacted and the election of Kempsey Shire Mayor Leo Hauville was not challenged by the Electoral Commission. As such he will remain in office until the next full local government election in 2024.

The court ruled in March to void the councillor election result, at the time emphasising that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the candidates who were named as defendants and noting that they regrettably would bear the burden of the failure of the iVote system.

The NSW Electoral Commission revealed in December that some users of their iVote system were unable to gain access to the system to vote in the local government elections due to technical issues in the process run by the commission.

In the case of Kempsey Shire Council there were 34 electors who were approved by the Electoral Commission but were unable to vote and did not vote by other means. Analysis of the potential outcome of those 34 votes is what promoted John Schmidt, the Electoral Commissioner, to seek a declaration that Kempsey's Councillor election be declared void.

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