Residents have cast their votes in eight shires across the Western Plains for the 2021 Local Government Elections with polling day yesterday, Saturday 4 December ending a strong pre-polling effort. 

We give you a quick wrap of initial election results, including those candidates who've already made the cut.

Not everyone had to vote - with Bourke, Cobar and Narromine shires having just enough nominations to fill the seats, candidates were elected uncontested. The same applies in four of the five wards of the Lachlan Shire and one of the four in Warren Shire. 

Where voting was required, a series of counts have commenced which will not officially conclude until just a few days before Christmas. 

However, the results for many shires should be become clear well before the final results are declared. 

After the polls closed at 6pm last night, staff and scrutineers at all polling places completed their initial count of ballot papers, sorting and counting according to the first preference for each candidate. 

At this stage we can see who has already reached the quota – or the number of initial first preference votes needed to be elected, from a calculation based on the total number of votes cast. 

In the coming days, the returning officer will complete any initial counts that weren’t completed by the end of election night and the first count of 'declaration' votes which includes postal votes and those cast online by ivote. 

In the next couple of weeks,  ballot papers will undergo a second count. This 'check count' is the official count to determine the elected candidates. 

This is followed by the counting of preferences, which is done by a computerised system and will determine the full list of councillors elected by distributing the preferences from those who reached their quota. 

For more information on how counting works go to the NSW Electoral Commission website. 

Bogan 

There are 1920 enrolled voters in the shire and according to the first count 1173 cast their vote in person, although 24 of those were considered informal. 

There were 11 candidates for the nine seats on council and a quota of 155 needs to be reached for a candidate to be elected.  

As at 11.02pm on Saturday 4 December, there looks to be three candidate who have met the quota – Glen Neill on 283 votes, Karl Bright on 168 and Graham Jackson on 166. Victoria Boag and Jodi Douglas are not far behind on 103 and 95 respectively. 

At the moment Greg Deacon and Tony Elias are trailing with 42 and 48 votes respectively. 

Brewarrina 

Between the polling places at Brewarrina, Goodooga and Weilmoringle, 376 votes had been counted by 11.02pm last night out of a potential 891 total enrolled voters.  

The count so far does not include pre-poll, postal or ivotes. 

There are nine seats available on Bre Shire with ten candidates in the contest.  

Three candidates have already met the quota of 37 votes – Vivian Slack-Smith on 90, Thomas Stanton on 72 and Angelo Pippos on 44. 

Although not much separates the field at this stage, Lily Shearer currently has the lowest count on 11 votes and Isaac Gordon has 19. 

Coonamble 

There are 2732 people enrolled to vote in the Coonamble Shire and between the polling (and pre-polling) places at Coonamble and Gulargambone 1607 votes have been counted. So far 36 of these have been informal. The count also include a large number of 1095 pre-polled ballots, compared with just 488 on election day. 

The 17 candidates for the 9 positions on council need to meet a quota of 158 to be considered elected. 

As at 11.02pm on Saturday 4 December, just two candidates had met the quota – former mayor Tim Horan with an emphatic 305 votes and current mayor Ahmad Karanouh with 179 votes. 

Four other candidates have reached 100 votes – Karen Churchill (137), Brian Sommerville (136), Adam Cohen (131) and Bill Fisher (105) - so a real contest remains for the remaining seven seats. 

Newcomer Karen McCusker is currently trailing with 12 votes and Luke Day with 19. 

Gilgandra 

Of the 3166 eligible voters, 2012 were counted by 11.02pm last night from the two polling places in Gilgandra and one in Tooraweenah. Informal votes made up 56 of these of 2.71%. 

A huge 1322 people took up the pre-poll voting option compared to 687 who attended the booths on polling day. 

Eleven candidates stood for the nine positions and needed a quota of 202 to be considered elected. 

Former shire General Manager Paul Mann has taken the lead from the First Preference Votes counted with 287, with current deputy mayor Ash Walker next on 261, Ian Freeth on 210 and current Mayor Doug Batten on 206 also look to have made the quota before any further votes are counted.  

Gail Babbage is close behind on 194. 

The field is quite close in Gilgandra with not a lot of votes separating the front runners from the tail, but the current count sees Greg Peart with the lowest count on 123 votes and Nicholas White on 128. 

Lachlan  

There are 4366 registered voters in the Lachlan Shire. 

Ward E sees four candidates vying for the two seats available, as the two candidates from each of the other four wards were elected unopposed. 

The quota for Ward E is 179 and Judy Bartholomew smashed the quota with 226 with Paul Phillips next on 195 but with only 544 of the possible 916 in Ward E, the results are not yet final. 

Of the other two candidates Allan Johnston has received 63 votes and Mark Hall has 50. 

Walgett 

With a massive 19 candidates contesting nine council seats and 3638 registered votes across five scattered polling places, the final results for Walgett shire could take some time. 

From those counted so far at Walgett, Lightning Ridge, Burren Junction, Collarenebri and Cumborah, 1812 people have voted in pre-poll and on polling day. Ten were postal votes and just two informal votes were counted. 

The progressive quota for election to Walgett Shire is 177. 

Current Mayor Ian Woodcock is first over the line with 228 initial first preference votes and Alf Seaton is next with 205. 

Just under the quota are Jasen Ramien (174), Col Hundy (152) and Michael Cooke (148). 

At the bottom of the current tally count, Bruce Gan has 16 votes, Manual Martinez has 22 and Robbie Turnbull 23. 

Warren 

The 1943 voters in Warren Shire are spread across four Wards and with no contest in C Ward, Ron Higgins, Kevin Taylor and Katrina Walker were elected as councillors. 

In A Ward, five candidates contested the three positions and need a quota of 57 votes to be considered elected. 

As of Saturday 4 December, 229 of a potential 490 voters had cast their ballot and only Greg Whiteley had met the quota with his 77 initial first preference votes. 

In B Ward, current Mayor Milton Quigley has made his mark by being the first candidate to reach the quota of 60 with his 82 votes. So far 240 of a potential 496 people have cast their vote. 

In D Ward, four candidates were vying for the three positions. With 490 registered voters, 287 have had their votes counted so far. Dirk McCloskey has nailed the quota of 71 by gaining 126 votes, an impressive 44.87% of votes cast so far. 

Warrumbungle 

Another huge field of 17 candidates for 9 councillor positions and with 6900 registered voters across seven polling places (plus two pre-poll sites) the contest will be tough. 

By 11.02pm on election night 2985 votes had been counted. This includes 48 postal votes and 139 from Coolah's pre-poll, but none of Coonabarabran's pre-poll votes as yet.

The quota needed is a challenging 287 and so far Coolah's Kathryn Rindfleish has nailed that with 509, followed by Dunedoo's Dale Hogden on 437 and Baradine's Denis Todd on 308. Mendooran's Carlton Kopke is just a handful of votes below quota on 287. 

The current count shows Craig Foster and Marie Knight with a long way to climb with 20 and 24 votes respectively.