DUMMY council candidates will find it tougher to run at council elections next month after an 11th-hour state legislative change banned postal ‘how to vote’ cards ahead of next month’s council elections.
‘Dummies’ have no intention of winning ward elections to represent their community but instead put their name up to funnel preferences to legitimate candidates, often in agreement with candidates seeking election.
Such preferences can get council candidates over the line if they do not win enough votes in their own right.
“The armies of dummy candidates lining up to run in this year’s council elections will have to think again,” state Liberal opposition planning spokesman David Davis said.
“Removing how-to-vote cards from the postal pack will mean stooge and dummy candidates running to harvest votes and preference them to a lead candidate will face bigger obstacles.”
All votes for the 22 October election will be made by post.
While candidates cannot include ‘how to vote’ information in official Victorian Electoral Commission ballot packs mailed to voters they can still include preferences information in advertisements and election material letterboxed or handed out to voters.
Twenty-one candidates competed for nine Frankston councillor spots, representing three wards, at the 2012 council election.
Crs Rebekah Spelman (North-West Ward) and Darrel Taylor (South Ward) were elected partly due to preferences last time around after not finishing in the top three for their respective wards on first preferences.
Victorian Electoral Commission figures show just under 69 per cent of 33,223 enrolled voters actually voted in 2012 and 3.35 per cent lodged informal votes that were not counted.
A staggering fifty-two candidates nominated to run for nine councillor spots in neighbouring Kingston Council in 2012.
Candidates for Frankston Council can register with the VEC from Thursday 15 September and nominations close at noon on Tuesday 20 September.
Ballot packs will be mailed to voters on Tuesday 4 October-Thursday 6 October and voting closes 6pm on Friday 21 October.
See vec.vic.gov.au or call 131 832 for further information.
