The NSW Electoral Commission has been ordered to cover the costs of holding fresh elections in three councils where its online voting software, iVote, failed last year.
The NSW Supreme Court last month scrapped the 2021 council election results in Kempsey, Singleton, and Ward A of Shellharbour Council due to the iVote malfunction — sending tens of thousands of voters back to the polls.
Today the court confirmed the election of 19 councillors will officially be declared void on May 3, triggering fresh elections within three months of that date.
The court ordered that the cost of the new elections be covered by the NSW Electoral Commission, which will also pay the councils' legal bill.
Shellharbour Deputy Mayor Kellie Marsh was one of the councillors who will have to contest her seat a second time.
She welcomed the ruling but said it did little to ameliorate the inconvenience to ratepayers and candidates.
"The Electoral Commission made an epic stuff up with the iVote system," Councillor Marsh said.
"The chief magistrate said it was through no fault of ours that that happened.
Individual candidates will have the opportunity to pursue personal costs when the matter is before the courts again next month.
The Electoral Commission is prepared to make an "act of grace" payment to cover candidates' expenditure — a discretionary mechanism used to address government operational issues.
New elections paid from 'state coffers'
Cr Marsh said, ultimately, taxpayers would still bear the burden of the iVote failure.
"I do bear in mind that when the Electoral Commission is making payments to anybody, that is still coming out of state coffers and that does sit quite heavily on me," she said.
Kempsey Shire Council general manager Craig Milburn said it cost council around a quarter of a million dollars to run the last election.
"The [NSW AEC] have agreed that council only have to pay for one election, not two, so they'll cover the cost of the second," Mr Milburn said.
He welcomed the news that successful and unsuccessful candidates from the now void council election would be reimbursed the "legitimate costs" they incurred in running as a candidate.
"It will allow them to make a decision about whether they do or don't run again, so that's very positive," Mr Milburn said.
Kempsey Mayor Leo Hauville said it was "tremendous" to have confirmation that campaign expenses including costs of advertising, events, and staff, would be reimbursed on a case-by-case basis.
"I know in the Kempsey Council elections some people didn't expend anything other than apply," Mr Hauville said.
Despite the court's decision, Mr Hauvillle said there was still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the financial implications of the new elections.
"Anyone could stand again so we might have a totally new council elected," he said.
"That will be a major cost for Kempsey Council because we've already held 11 induction days training the new councillors on the role of council and their roles … that will all have to be redone."
Also discussed in court were questions around when the new council elections would be called, with councils required to sign off on documents required by state legislation including an operating plan and delivery plan in the coming months.
"The decision on the new election date will hopefully be made after June 30, so that council will not have to become a caretaker council where they can't make decisions on major issues, namely the statutory documents which have to be approved by council," Mr Hauville said.
