Wards issue back on council agenda

– Callan Date
THE issue of single versus multi-councillor wards is back on the City of Casey agenda.
The issue was debated at last Tuesday’s council meeting with attendance and postal voting also given thought.
Both topics are sure to be talked about regularly in the lead-up to the election of a new council next year.
Council officers presented a report detailing the pros and cons of having dual councillors in each ward.
Benefits noted in the report included that ratepayers more easily understood a smaller number of wards and the workload could be spread more evenly between two elected members.
However, one disadvantage noted was a potential doubling up of work if ward councillors did not work together efficiently.
Councillor Janet Halsall said the present multi-councillor situation had actually increased the workload of councillors.
She said her role as a River Gum Ward councillor resulted in a representation of 16,000 households.
Cr Halsall shares the ward with Cr Wayne Smith.
Cr Rob Wilson brought up the issue of dummy candidates determining election results.
He said a candidate could hide behind the anonymity of a photo and short worded profile if postal voting were adopted.
“When a voter comes into the polling booth they can tell the difference between dummy and real candidates,” he said.
A report said attendance voting would cost the City of Casey in excess of $150,000 more than the postal voting method.
“The benefits of the postal voting system are generally acknowledged to include a higher voter turnout, a lower rate of informal voting and lower cost,” the report said.
The report noted that the majority of councils now held their elections by post.
“State and federal governments are both elected by attendance polling. Attendance voting can fix and weed out dummy candidates,” Cr Wilson said.
No decisions were made on the format of the next Casey election, with councillors voting to note the officers’ report.