The City's statement to PerthNow about the City of Cockburn Local Government Elections, 24.10.25
City of Cockburn Mayor Logan Howlett says he was disappointed a procedural error in the WA Electoral Commission’s (WAEC) reconciliation process caused a delay in the declaration of results of the City’s weekend Local Government elections.
The WAEC held a recount of Mayoral election votes on the afternoon of Monday 20 October with the result declared and announced online around 8.30pm. Ward counts were complete but could not be declared until the Mayoral result was finalised. The WAEC declared and published the ward results on Tuesday 21 October.
A WAEC statement on the recount referred to the occurrence of a procedural matter with the results process not being followed in the correct sequence, which led to the premature publication of provisional election results.
“This is disappointing. Our community had an expectation that it would see the election results announced over the weekend,” Mayor Howlett said.
“The delay was disappointing for voters who exercised their right to vote, and the candidates who spent many months working hard for the privilege to potentially represent their community as Elected Members.”
The WAEC statement revealed 297 ballot papers in the Mayoral election had not been included in the initial count.
But, the final results had been published on the WAEC website. When this error was discovered, the WAEC removed the results from their website.
“The City expects the WAEC will conduct itself at the highest level when delivering elections for the Cockburn community. In this case, the conduct of the recent election fell well short of expectations,” Mayor Howlett said.
“I am grateful that WAEC completed the Mayoral recount on Monday to support the integrity of the election process.”
Read the WAEC statement on their
website.