Nominee Asks Why Vote Tally Done In Sydney
Newcastle Herald
Saturday April 5, 2008
THE Knights' election of directors continued to spark debate yesterday when candidate Helen Scott queried why votes would be counted in Sydney and not somewhere more convenient.
The biennial ballot closes on Monday and the votes will be tallied by a Sydney-based firm on Tuesday before the new nine-person board is announced at the Knights' annual general meeting on Wednesday. Scott, a Nelson Bay businesswoman and long-time sporting administrator who has supported the Knights "since day one", said the fact that votes are not counted locally made it difficult to scrutineer the process."The people who do the counting are a home business in Sydney," she said. "Apparently the CEO [Steve Burraston] will be a scrutineer, but if anyone else wants to be a scrutineer they have to go all the way to Sydney."Knights chairman Peter Corcoran said the same firm had counted the votes for the past four years and there had "never been a complaint".It was rumoured yesterday that more than 1000 votes had already been submitted. The other candidates are incumbents Corcoran, Mark Fitzgibbon, Allan McKeown, Nick Dan and Paul Harragon, and challengers Tony Butterfield, Robbie Tew, Leigh Maughan, Bob Lyons and Peter Bale.
© 2008 Newcastle Herald