Jo Galer on track to win Dunedin by-election

Jo Galer is on track to win the Dunedin City Council by-election over former mayor Aaron Hawkins.

At 1.30pm today, Ms Galer (8845 votes) was in first place and Aaron Hawkins (8099 votes) was second, followed by Conrad Stedman (6482 votes) in third.

The result is based on counting of about 85% of returned voting papers.

The election was run under the single transferable vote (STV) system, which involves voters ranking their preferences.

Progress results had Mr Hawkins receiving the most first-preference votes with 6161, followed by Ms Galer on 4779.

Under STV, the least-favoured candidate drops out one by one and their votes are reallocated.

Mr Hawkins led through the opening rounds of the progress results.

When three candidates remained in the race, Ms Galer trailed him by about 600 votes.

When third-placed Mr Stedman dropped out,  Ms Galer received 1767 votes, leapfrogging Mr Hawkins, who gained 427.

Progress results had Ms Galer on 8845 votes and Mr Hawkins with 8099.

Ms Galer, who was endorsed by Crs Russell Lund and Lee Vandervis, stood on a platform of prioritising basic infrastructure including in South Dunedin, capping rates and stopping cycleways.

Ms Galer told the Otago Daily Times this afternoon she had been told she was leading the vote.

"I'm obviously absolutely head over heels, stoked to bits. If it is going to be me, I would be absolutely delighted, but I'd be just as crushed if it wasn't."

She said she was extremely proud of her efforts so far, even if she was not successful.

"I think people want to see financial responsibility first and foremost. They're worried about their rates bills, they're worried about council debt and they're worried about council priorities."

She said her ability to listen and engage with people served her well through the campaign.

"South Dunedin as well, I think that definitely played into it. I have a massive amount of empathy for those people.

"And I'm formerly a journalist, but also a historian. And I think that history has shown that those people have been given a raw deal."

Cr Lund said he and Cr Vandervis were happy with the progress result.

Conventional wisdom had been that name recognition would help Mr Hawkins, the former mayor, he said.

Cr Lund said voters wanted discipline in operational spending and efficient prioritisation of projects.

They wanted South Dunedin's stormwater issues to be dealt with, he said.

Mr Hawkins said in a post it was "not the result we wanted, but you win some and you lose some".

"I stood because I wanted to offer the option of experienced, principled and progressive leadership in a time of great uncertainty. 

"Progress results this afternoon indicate that the community have decided to go down a different path," Hawkins wrote,

Fourteen candidates stood for the vacant position, after Cr Jules Radich died in January.

Voting opened about a month ago and the polls closed at midday today.

At 10.51am, voting turnout was sitting at 29.74%.

Among the last-minute voters in the Octagon was Ellen MacGregor, who handed in the forms for herself, her husband and 21-year-old son at 11.57am.

She had been keen to meet the deadline, she said.

The forms had been filled out for a while, but it was then a matter of dropping them in.

"I had actually headed home at 10 o'clock thinking I would get sorted and back in to drop them off," Mrs MacGregor said. "And then a few jobs cropped up, and so yes, I was hopeful that I could make it."

She did not want to be somebody who complained about the council while not voting.

"If you want things to change, you've got to be in and put the people forward that you think share the same values."