FINAL ELECTION AND REFERENDUM RESULTS

People vote for fewer councillors

In 2021 Council resolved to hold a Constitutional Referendum for voters to determine whether they favour a reduction in the number of Councillors from 15 to 9.

Three ward structures were developed by Council to illustrate how the region could be divided should the referendum be carried.

Held at the same time as the Local Government Elections the Referendum for the number of councillors and wards in the region resulted in the two thirds of voters opting for less.

The question:

Do you favour a reduction in the number of Central Coast Councillors from 15 to 9 and a reduction in the number of wards from

5 to 3, with each ward electing 3 councillors?

The result:

          Yes                              125,222   -  61.74%

          No                                   77,601  -   38.26%

          Informal                         9,492  -      4.47%

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Referendum vote compared with Election was the number of informal votes.

On average the number of informal votes across all 5 Wards was 7% whereas for the Referendum it was only 4.5%.

It appears that many voters knew little or nothing about the candidates and were confused by the Ballot Paper.

Whereas they understood the Referendum question and saw less councillors as the best way forward - in 4 years time.

FINAL ELECTION RESULTS

BUDGEWOI WARD

          Helen Crowley - Labor        

          Doug Eaton - Liberal

          John Mouland - Team Central Coast

GOSFORD EAST WARD

          Lawrie McKinna - Team Central Coast

          Sharon Walsh - Labor

          Jared Wright - Liberal

GOSFORD WEST WARD

          Trent McWade - Liberal

          Belinda Neal - Labor

          Jane Smith - CEN

THE ENTRANCE WARD

          Margo Castles - Labor

          Rachel Stanton - Liberal

          Corinne Lamont - Independent

WYONG WARD

          Kyla Daniels - Team Central Coast

          Kyle McGregor - Labor

          John McNamara - Liberal