City of Cockburn mayor ‘disappointed’ in management of council election

The fallout has continued from the bungled City of Cockburn local government election, with the WA Electoral Commission’s handling of it being labelled “disappointing”.

Logan Howlett was re-elected mayor in a nailbiting count, defeating his closest rival and deputy mayor Chontelle Stone by 360 votes.

But there was also drama behind the scenes, with results prematurely published and nearly 300 ballot papers not included in the initial count.

The election was held on October 18 and Mr Howlett announced formally as the winner late on October 20. Election results for Cockburn’s councillors were published on October 21.

Mr Howlett said the community had expected to learn the results over the weekend of October 18 and 19.

“The delay was disappointing for voters who exercised their right to vote, and the candidates who spent many months working hard for the privilege to potentially represent their community as elected members,” he said.

“The city expects the WAEC will conduct itself at the highest level when delivering elections for the Cockburn community. In this case, the conduct of the recent election fell well short of expectations.”

Cr Stone said she was also concerned about how the count was held.

She said the mayoral candidates only knew early results had been mistakenly published when a photo was sent to one of them.

“We as candidates had no idea. We were still sitting in the room waiting,” Cr Stone said.

“By Monday lunchtime we still had no provisional numbers. When other councils across Perth were able to receive reports about where preferences flowed, why couldn’t ours?

“The WAEC needs a deep, hard look at themselves.”

In a statement, the WAEC said this year’s local government election results were delivered more efficiently overall compared to 2023.

“As part of the WA Electoral Commission’s standard post-election procedures, a review is currently underway to assess all aspects of the election, including the Cockburn count,” the statement said.

“This review will help identify areas for further improvement and support continued public confidence in the electoral system.”

The WAEC oversaw postal voting for 85 local governments and six in-person elections and for the first time, real-time provisional results were provided.

City of Canning mayor Patrick Hall raised concerns last week election results were being delayed by optional preferential voting.

“The former ‘first past the post’ system wasn’t perfect, but it meant that elections (all of them) were decided on election night, successful candidates could celebrate their win on the night, newly elected members were congratulated and able to be briefed for pending meetings, the transition was immediate, communities had certainty, and there was a seamless leadership transition,” he said.

“Surely those are the best outcomes for our democracy.”