Toowoomba Regional Council 2008 by-election - John McVeigh sets pace in poll ...

Excerpt from the Chronicle:

McVeigh sets pace in poll for new councillor

7 December 2008

Toowoomba businessman John McVeigh was last night refusing to celebrate an apparent Toowoomba Regional Council by-election victory.

Mr McVeigh held a 10 per cent lead over nearest rival Ian Jones when officials stopped counting on Saturday night, with more than 38.2% (37,645) of the vote counted.

While he refused to claim victory last night, returning officer Norm Garsden admitted Mr McVeigh "should be feeling confident".

Former Clifton mayor Mr Jones sits in second position while former Toowoomba City Councillor Graham Barron is third.

Mr McVeigh said it was now a case of "whatever happens, happens".

"I guess we’re tentatively waiting for the completion of the counting of all the votes. Obviously we’re pleased with the trend at this stage," he said.

Mr McVeigh said he eagerly watched the results on Saturday night.

"We watched as the website was updated and were informed by our scrutinizers at the count last night (Saturday night)," he said.

Returning officer Norm Garsden said he had hoped his team would get through counting more than half of the ballot papers on Saturday night but wanted to make sure the count was accurate. He said some vote counters had worked from 7am processing envelopes, before counting from 6pm until midnight.

Mr Garsden said he could not declare the poll until there was a definite gap between the votes for Mr McVeigh and Mr Jones with no chance of anyone closing the gap.

But there was a trend in favour of Mr McVeigh from the beginning.

"He (McVeigh) should be feeling confident,’ Mr Garsden said.

Mr Garsden said they would continue counting today (Monday) and tomorrow.

"We’ll just take it as it goes and we’ll be able to declare it in the next couple of days," he said.

If Mr McVeigh continues to remain on top of the table he will fill the 10th position on the council replacing Cr Ian Orford who died in early October.

See - McVeigh sets pace in poll for new councillor.