By DANE LILLINGSTONE
FOLLOWING some recent speculation surrounding who would be next year’s election returning officer, Southern Downs Regional Council has received confirmation from the Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) on who would take the role.
Gary Adcock has been confirmed to take the position he held in the 2012 local government council elections.
“Council has received formal notification from the ECQ that Mr Gary Adcock has been appointed the returning officer for Southern Downs Regional Council,” a spokesperson said.
Southern Downs mayor Peter Blundell said even though the 2012 elections experienced some hiccups, he did not expect any more issues with postal voting.
“I am happy with postal voting and think most members of the public also appreciate the ability to postal vote,” he said.
“I recognise there were dramas associated with the 2012 local government election, mostly associated with non-delivery of ballot papers to people whose surname started with ‘Gr’ and I do believe there were some issues associated with appropriate staffing levels at the electoral office.
“Having said that, I still believe that postal voting is the appropriate way to conduct the 2016 local government elections and am very happy we have been given the ability to conduct them in this way.”
The Queensland Local Government Elections will be held on 19 March next year.
