7:46 – So with a change in the mixture of primary votes, the swings on primary vote may not be reflected in the final preference count. The Greens gained a 2CP swing of 1.8% on the postal vote, but if the preference split the same way they’d have a small swing against them at Nightcliff HS. In 2024, the Greens did better on election day than at the pre-poll booths.
7:43 – It should be noted that in 2024 there was an independent, Mililma May, who polled 19.2% and whose preferences strongly favoured the Greens. While there is another prominent independent, Phil Scott, running this time, it would not be surprising if May’s absence increased the Greens primary vote but also meant the Greens gain a much smaller share of preferences than they did with May in the race. This seems to be happening.
7:39 – There were 52 postal votes that were cast for the CLP or the independent: Labor gained 28 of those 52 votes, which is 53.8% of preferences.
7:35 – We have 2CP count from the postal vote, with the Greens winning 53.8%.
7:31 – That’s a swing of 12.7% to the Greens at Nightcliff HS and 15.2% on the postals. A good start from the party. Apparently the NTEC is conducting a Greens-Labor preference count tonight, which looks like the right call.
7:28 – We have the first results, with 160 postal votes and 907 votes at Nightcliff HS published.
Greens candidate Suki Dorras-Walker is leading on 37.6%, with Labor’s Ed Smelt on 27.9%, the CLP’s Anjan Paudel on 17.8%, and independent Phil Scott on 16.7%.
6:32 – I’m on deck now, but we have no results yet.
The NTEC has reported on the number of votes recorded, which gives us a sense of scale for tonight. There are about 4,000 votes.
907 eligible voters in the Division of Nightcliff cast their vote today at the election day voting centre located at Nightcliff High School.
During the early voting period 2,657 votes have been cast at the early voting centre or mobile voting service. 441 postal votes have been issued.
6:00 – Polls have now closed in the by-election for the Northern Territory Assembly seat of Nightcliff.
Nightcliff covers parts of the northern suburbs of Darwin. There was just one election-day booth today, along with one pre-poll booth. So I would expect it will take some time to count these two booths, along with other results types, but when results come in they will be quite complete quite quickly.
If you want something to read while waiting for some results, you can check out my by-election guide.
I’ve been out this afternoon at an AFL game in Sydney but I’m hoping to begin tracking results around 6:30pm Darwin time (8pm Sydney time).
