Latest news with #recount
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Australia news live: teal's lead jumps to more than 20 in battle for Bradfield; number of Australian billionaires doubles in a decade
Update: Date: 2025-06-02T21:16:56.000Z Title: Nick Visser Content: Good morning, here to take you through today's breaking news. For now: The race for the NSW seat of Bradfield remains neck-and-neck, with independent Nicolette Boele currently leading Liberal Gisele Kapterian by more than 20 votes. It's still too early to call the seat, as a painstaking – and polite – recount remains under way. The federal election took place exactly one month ago. The number of Australia billionaires has more than doubled over the past decade. In 2015, there were 74. There are now 161, according to Oxfam Australia. Billionaire wealth grew on average by more than $137m per day. Stick with us for all the twists and turns the day has to offer.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
Tim Wilson officially new member for Goldstein after tight margins saw Zoe Daniel order a recount
A new member for the Melbourne seat of Goldstein has been crowned, four weeks after the federal election. Independent candidate Zoe Daniel demanded a recount after losing the seat to Liberal moderate Tim Wilson by just 260 votes, saying several errors were made during the distribution of preferences. The Australian Electoral Commission finalised the partial recount of 85,000 votes on Saturday confirming Mr Wilson had won with a margin of 175 votes. In a statement posted to social media, Mr Wilson said after 29 days of counting the Liberals had 14,697 more first preference votes than the former MP. 'I want to thank all Goldstein voters, but particularly the extraordinary effort some went to so their voice was heard,' he said. 'Now the recount is finished, the result is clear. It is time to get on with the job and take the voice and values of Goldstein to shape the future of Australia.' Ms Daniel declared victory in the highly-contested seat on election night after early counting leaned heavily in her favour. But a surge in postal votes over the following days swung the pendulum back into blue-ribbon territory, with the seat actually called for Mr Wilson on May 7. Ms Daniel refused to concede the seat at the time and insisted on waiting for the full distribution of preferences and then demanded a recount, which was granted in part by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). She said it had been a long process to recount the 85,000 votes representing 75 per cent of votes cast. 'Goldstein is now one of the most marginal seats in the country, and with that comes embedded accountability,' she said. 'In that, we have done our job. 'In a world where trust in elections is being eroded in so many places, we should never take this for granted.'
ABC News
3 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Tim Wilson wins seat of Goldstein by 175 votes after partial recount
A partial recount in the Melbourne seat of Goldstein has confirmed that Liberal candidate Tim Wilson has beaten outgoing teal MP Zoe Daniel. The Australian Electoral Commission announced the final margin after the recount was 175 votes in favour of the Liberal Party. This was down from an initially reported margin of 260 votes, which the AEC said was in part due to a data entry error being rectified. The results of the recount bring a close to a rollercoaster month for both candidates, who each separately claimed victory following the election. Ms Daniel, who had previously requested a full recount, congratulated Mr Wilson on his re-election. "It's been a long process and, in the end after a recount of about 85,000 votes, representing 75 per cent of the votes cast, there were only a few votes in it," Ms Daniel said. "This incredibly close contest reflects just how much our community cares about the future." The victory returns Tim Wilson to the seat he lost in 2022, with a strong postal vote buoying him past Ms Daniel. Ms Daniel is the first of the group of independents that became known as "teals" to lose their seat.
CBC
4 days ago
- General
- CBC
Senator says 'onus is on Elections Canada' to educate voters, given high number of rejected ballots
In the wake of a recount in a tightly contested federal riding in rural Newfoundland, a longtime politician says Elections Canada needs to do a better job educating people on how to vote. An unprecedented number of disputed ballots in the Terra Nova-The Peninsulas riding forced a lengthy delay on the outcome of what was among the tightest races in this year's federal election. More than 41,000 people voted in the newly named riding. After a marathon recount, 819 ballots were ultimately rejected, according to the Elections Canada website. Fabian Manning, a senator and former Newfoundland and Labrador MHA and Conservative MP, said he's never seen so many ballots rejected. "When I look at the numbers of people who voted in the election, the numbers were much larger than they were in my campaigns," he told CBC News. He said there's no doubt in his mind that there was confusion among voters over the difference between federal and provincial ballots. Manning was in Marystown for the full two days of the recount as a scrutineer. Elections Canada ballots are grey, with white rectangles containing each candidate's name and party. A white circle to the right of each rectangle is where voters are supposed to mark their choice. A recount was ordered by Elections Canada after the initial tally following the April 28 federal election showed Liberal candidate Anthony Germain ahead of Conservative Jonathan Rowe by 12 votes. Rowe was declared the winner on May 23 by that same margin. In his decision released on Monday, Justice Garrett Handrigan wrote that on many of the disputed ballots — maybe as many as half — voters had left their mark in the rectangular box. In some of these so-called "rectangle ballots," voters had also left a mark in the circle. Manning said the Canadian Elections Act states a mark has to be made behind the candidate's name and doesn't stipulate if it's an X, check mark or initial, as long as it doesn't identify the voter. But in Newfoundland and Labrador provincial elections, voters can use an X or a check by the name on a ballot to signify who they are voting for. "People may think that, you know, put a check mark next to the person's name and that ballot is counted," said Manning. In contrast, a federal ballot is rejected if a mark isn't in the circle. "The Elections Canada people in the polling station and the judge, under the Canadian Elections Act, would not be allowed to accept that," said Manning. "That's why I think we ended up with a lot of rejected ballots." Manning says there are signs posted at polling stations telling people how to mark their ballots, but he worries the process isn't explained very well to people, especially seniors. He said there was a high number of rejected ballots across the country.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Wisconsin Elections Commission finds VanderLeest ballot tampering complaints 'speculative' and 'vague'
The Wisconsin Elections Commission found no basis for David VanderLeest's allegations that Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys and the city's Municipal Board of Canvassers had tampered with a recount during the spring 2024 elections. VanderLeest's claims that election officials had committed fraud and tampered with ballots were based on irrelevant laws or statutes that did not do what VanderLeest claimed they did, the commission wrote in its 12-page decision letter dated May 27. His claims of fraud and ballot tampering "appear to be entirely speculative in nature," the commission continued, "underpinned by vague assertions that the election procedures were generally not followed" and his belief that the election results should be thrown out. Despite VanderLeest's disagreement with the final election results for District 8, which saw council member Joey Prestley win over former council member Steve Campbell, the commission concluded, "that disagreement cannot support speculative allegations entirely divorced from Wisconsin election law." The commission's dismissal of VanderLeest's complaint ended a months-long back-and-forth between the city and the real estate broker and former political candidate that started even before VanderLeest submitted his complaint in September 2024. During an election recount requested by Campbell against his opponent Prestley, VanderLeest repeatedly interrupted the proceedings, either requesting to stop the recount or to change the counting method. He submitted his complaint alleging that serial numbers on three election ballots did not match records held by the election inspectors five months after Campbell ultimately conceded to Prestley. The city submitted its own reply to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, calling Campbell's allegations, among other things, "improper" and "frivolous." On top of his original complaint, VanderLeest submitted several new allegations in a subsequent filing with the elections commission, including those of ballot stuffing, the loss of two USB sticks with vote tallies, improper initialing by the city clerk with an ink stamp, and inherent political bias of an election inspector. The commission allowed the city to respond to these new allegations ― which it did on Jan. 28, a day late ― before responding to all of the points that VanderLeest alleged. VanderLeest has made "a vague, speculative conclusion" that ballots had been tampered with because seal numbers on three ballot bags were not recorded at the end of the night, the commission wrote. While it would have been best practice for election inspectors to do so, the commission said no law requires election officials to record the seal numbers on their inspector statements, called EL-104 sheets. "Speculation alone is not sufficient for the Commission to conclude that the Respondents took actions that were contrary to law or otherwise abused their discretion" under state statute, the commission continued. VanderLeest's later allegations were also dismissed for having little basis in election law or for having little explanation and evidence to back up his claims. The commission questioned VanderLeest's logic that given his allegations of fraud, it was uncertain how the voters intended to cast their ballots. Given VanderLeest did not explain how that was the case, the commission moved on from the issue "without further consideration." VanderLeest appeared to be confused, the commission said, between absentee ballots and ballots given to voters for in-person voting on Election Day. He was also incorrect that absentee ballots need two sets of initials by the city clerk to endorse absentee ballots, the commission said, citing state statute. His claim that the city clerk had improperly used a stamp on absentee certificate envelopes rather than the ballots themselves was "at best ... underdeveloped," the commission wrote, and that VanderLeest "has drawn a series of speculative conclusions from the single, undisputed fact that [Jeffreys] chose to utilize a stamp to apply her initials to absentee certificate envelopes." The commission went on, going through VanderLeest's allegations, dismissing them on their speculative or ungrounded or undeveloped nature before concluding, "The Commission does not find probable cause that a violation of law has occurred and hereby dismisses the complaint." Both parties have no later than 30 days from May 27 to appeal the decision in circuit court. Jesse Lin is a reporter covering the community of Green Bay and its surroundings, as well as politics in northeastern Wisconsin. Contact him at 920-834-4250 or jlin@ This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Commission dismisses VanderLeest ballot tampering election complaint
