Counting was much slower than hoped last night.
The electronic vote was not as early as hoped, nor was there enough of it to make solid predictions.
Only the pre-poll electronic vote was posted early. The electronic vote on the day was posted much later.
And just before 10pm the Electoral Commission’s website crashed, but an intranet site was still available at the tally room.
It was thought before polling day that about 20,000 electronic votes would be ready for almost instantaneous count right through to the last preference shortly after polls closed.
But like all first-time computer uses it was much slower. It was after 7.30pm for a sample of electronic vote of about 5 per cent was posted.
As the night wore on it seems that the electronic sample might not be true to the whole, and greater reliance on the old methods of talking to party officials, candidates and scrutineers was needed.
The electronic count indicated as follows:
Labor: MLAs Jon Stanhope, Ted Quinlan, Wayne Berry, Simon Corbell, Bill Wood, John Hargreaves and new member Katy Gallagher.
Liberal: MLAs Gary Humphries, Brendan Smyth, Greg Cornwell and Bill Stefaniak and new members Vicki Dunne, Helen Cross and Steve Pratt.
Democrats: New members Jeanette Jolley and Roslyn Dundas.
Greens: MLA Kerrie Tucker.
Whether that is the final result, we will know in about a week’s time.
The electronic experiment, however, was well worth running because when it counted the preferences of those who had voted pre-poll it was a matter of minutes, not days. It indicates that by next election it will play a greater role in speeding the count.