16 July 2001

The Aston by-election does not finish on polling day for the staff at the Australian Electoral Commission, Division of Aston office.  While voting is the end of the matter for electors, the staff at the AEC now count the votes cast by postal and pre-poll voters, as well as checking the votes cast at a polling place.

Mr Dennis Ptak, the Divisional Returning Officer for Aston, said that the majority of Aston voters cast an ordinary vote at one of the 32 polling places on Saturday.  These 72,132 votes were counted on Saturday night and will be subjected to a full re-check, which commenced today and will continue for several days. 

A significant number of electors, over 10,000, cast pre-poll votes or voted by post.  2,985 of these were counted today.  Counting of postal and pre-poll votes will continue tomorrow.  Counting is taking longer than anticipated due to the large number of candidates and the intense scrutiny by candidates' representatives.

Results at the close of counting today are attached.

Mr Ptak said that he is also waiting for ballot papers from around the country and overseas.  The Commonwealth Electoral Act allows 13 days for the receipt of postal votes.  Before these votes can be counted, the entitlement of the electors to have their votes counted must be checked.

Results for the Aston by-election can be found on the AEC website www.aec.gov.au/aston

For further information

Steve Kennedy
Manager Information
Phone: 03 9285 7133
Mobile: 0413 271 211

Toni Tosti
Information Officer
Phone: 03 9285 7132
Mobile: 0413 271 192