THE Australian Electoral Commission has declared the results of its three-candidate-preferred (3CP) count in Flinders, with Liberal Zoe McKenzie and independent Ben Smith the final two candidates. Eliminated during the 3CP count was Labor’s Sarah Race.
The AEC will now revert to a traditional two-candidate-preferred (TCP) count to determine the final winner out of McKenzie and Smith. The News understands a final result is expected by the end of the week.
The most recent data on the 3CP count, published this afternoon, stated that 56 poling places and declaration vote counts had completed a 3CP count with the following results.
Total counted: 105,258 (of the 110,960 formal votes)
Zoe McKenzie (Liberal): 49,145 votes (46.69% of 3CP)
Ben Smith (Independent): 28,916 votes (27.47% of 3CP)
Sarah Race (Labor): 27,197 (25.84% of 3CP)
This data indicated a 1719 lead to Smith in the contest to see which two candidates would continue on to the final determination of the seat.
Now the final two are decided, the AEC needs to redistribute the votes of eliminated candidate Race to the final two.
The AEC’s two-candidate-preferred count will begin tomorrow to for all polling places and counts that have already undergone fresh scrutiny. This will involve conducting a new TCP count only and does not involve re-examining first preferences.
