Reflections on the Miracle of Democracy at Work in the Greatest Nation on Earth

Photo finish: La Trobe

With Liberal member Jason Wood now 733 votes ahead, this post will not be further updated. Results below are not final. For up-to-date results visit the Virtual Tally Room site.

2007 2004
ALP LIB ALP LIB Swing
Booths 33,622
50.27
33,263
49.73
28,096
44.60
34,893
55.40
5.66
Pre-Poll 1,220
50.39
1,201
49.61
1,391
41.02
2,000
58.98
9.37
Absent 2,404
45.01
2,937
54.99
Postal 2427
40.60
3,551
59.40
2,245
40.65
3,278
59.35
-0.05
Provisional 201
41.27
286
58.73
Total 37,269
49.50
38,015
50.50
34,337
44.17
43,394
55.83
5.33
ALP (adjusted) 49.4
LIB (adjusted) 50.6


Saturday evening. This post will be used to follow the final stages of the count in La Trobe, where at the close of election night counting the ABC computer has Liberal incumbent Jason Wood 0.2 per cent ahead of Labor’s Rodney Cocks. Raw figures from the AEC put the lead at 0.3 per cent.

Sunday evening. Two-thirds of pre-polls are counted and they show a sharp swing to Labor. This adds only 19 votes to the raw Labor lead, but it turns the adjusted figure from a 0.2 per cent Liberal lead into a dead heat.

Monday 8pm. In a big surprise, Jason Wood has taken the lead after the addition of nearly 2000 postal votes: perhaps a third of the total. These have split 1262-696 split in Wood’s favour, a 5.1 per cent Liberal swing when compared with 2004 postals, turning a 378 vote deficit into a 166 vote surplus. In adjusted terms it turns the dead heat into a 0.3 per cent Liberal margin. No further pre-polls added.

Tuesday 4pm. A second batch of 1967 postal votes has been only slightly less bad for Labor, breaking 1123-844 in Wood’s favour. This has brought the two-party Liberal swing on postals down to earth, but Wood’s 467 vote lead in absolute terms looks formidable.

Tuesday 11pm. A third batch of postals proves very similar to the last, breaking 1166-887 Wood’s way. It’s now at a surely unassailable 746 votes, which means it’s almost time to shut up shop on coverage for this seat.

18 Comments

  1. 1
    isoetes
    Posted Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 8:00 am | Permalink

    Wood is a hard working local member, and this will probably get him over the line. Cocks had very little time to establish a profile in the electorate. The nasty rumours regarding Cocks made it to 3AW, and no doubt this had some effect.

    It will be interesting to see the vote count for the Berwick booths, as well as Narre Warren and Boronia.

    I need a Berocca, or two.

  2. 2
    RGee
    Posted Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 8:49 am | Permalink

    I was at a Berwick booth for YR@W. I thought it was looking good for Rodney.

  3. 3
    Charlie
    Posted Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 9:01 am | Permalink

    I’m a bit disappointed about this one. Here’s hoping that Cocks can somehow sneak over the line, because he’d be an asset to the party.

  4. 4
    Posted Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 9:37 am | Permalink

    AEC LaTrobe 1st Prefs and 2PP
    http://vtr.aec.gov.au/HouseDivisionFirstPrefs-13745-223.htm

  5. 5
    Xavier
    Posted Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 10:38 am | Permalink

    They’ll be some stiff competition from Wood, but I think Cocks will be able to keep this up.

  6. 6
    Swing Lowe
    Posted Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 11:12 am | Permalink

    Supposedly La Trobe falls to Labor:

    http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22818152-29277,00.html

  7. 7
    Charlie
    Posted Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 11:23 am | Permalink

    Go Rod!

  8. 8
    Posted Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 11:47 am | Permalink

    Skynews has given La Trobe to the ALP

  9. 9
    Posted Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 1:50 pm | Permalink

    No-one can give this seat to anyone yet. They’ve only just started on the postals. Cocks is just ahead but the result won’t be clear for some days.

  10. 10
    gary
    Posted Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 3:37 pm | Permalink

    Am absolutely rapt to read this as I saw him sneaking closer as the night wore on. This seat didnt get much coverage last night, which was surprising considering how close it was.

  11. 11
    Posted Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 6:56 pm | Permalink

    Actually, the change today has nothing to do with trends in postal or absent votes. It is entirely due to the polling place matching being turned off in the post-election night period. Cocks may now have 50.3%, but if the postal votes go as they did in 2004, then he will end up with 49.8%. But then, if the postals and absent are different, then the result could go either way.

    The ABC site is being updated again after the computers have been moved back to Sydney. But we have had to turn the polling place matching off.

  12. 12
    quintus
    Posted Monday, November 26, 2007 at 8:46 am | Permalink

    There are still up to 20,000 votes out there somewhere of which only 8000 are postals! It points to a huge absentee vote.

  13. 13
    quintus
    Posted Monday, November 26, 2007 at 4:35 pm | Permalink

    Revise that… I think that there are 7000 absentee votes to come

  14. 14
    Rob
    Posted Monday, November 26, 2007 at 5:50 pm | Permalink

    The AEC now has the Libs ahead in LaTrobe following a recount and some pre-polls. On these figures it’s hard to see this one falling to Labor.

    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/la-trobe-still-too-close-to-call/2007/11/26/1196036793012.html

  15. 15
    gary
    Posted Monday, November 26, 2007 at 9:40 pm | Permalink

    How can that talentless piece of garbage get a 5% swing on the postals? If Cocks doesnt win I’ll be very,very upset. This has wrecked my day.

  16. 16
    quintus
    Posted Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 10:38 am | Permalink

    Jason put out his postal vote letter to constituents on Parliamentary letterhead… a bit of dirty pool there.

  17. 17
    slackboy
    Posted Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 1:48 pm | Permalink

    Gee I hope Cocks gets Wood.

  18. 18
    dovif
    Posted Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 3:42 pm | Permalink

    quintus

    well he is/was in parliament wasn’t he, he was a sitting member. So he has every right to, I get letters from the member in my seat and it was from —–, your Labor sitting member of parliament, there was nothing wrong with that