WAS YOUR SIGNATURE COUNTED?

In reply to a request for information regarding the large number of rejected signatures Ray Norman, the petition's authoriser, received the following information and explanation.

"Thank you for your email. I can advise:

• Section 59(2) of the Local Government Act 1993 (Tas) (the Act) requires that council must hold a public meeting if the petition is signed by (a) 5% of the electors in the municipal area; or (b) 1,000 of those electors (whichever is the lesser).
•  If the above is not met, Council may still resolve to hold a public meeting regarding the subject matter of the petition, as provided for in section 60(3) of the Act.
• The purpose of verifying the number of signatures to the petition was to inform Council whether the public meeting must be held, or whether the public meeting required a resolution of Council to proceed.
• For section 59(2) to apply, it was necessary for Council officers to verify the number of electors in the municipal area that signed the petition.
• We obtained a copy of the electoral roll for the Launceston Municipality as at 31 January 2016, from the Tasmanian Electoral Office.
• Council officers checked the signatories to the petition against the electoral roll.

        • 273 names could either not be found in the electoral roll, or the name and address on the petition could not be matched to a name and address in the electoral roll
         • 38 entries were duplicates
         • 14 entries were not legible
         • 17 entries had no name
         • 22 entries had no address
         • 1 entry was on a piece of paper that did not have a heading as required by section 57(2)(b) of the Act
         • The letter provided as a cover to the petition specified 1,493/1,492 signatures; Council officers counted 1,495 signatures. The above entries were deducted from 1,495 to        arrive at 1,130 validated signatures (i.e. 1,495 - 273 - 38 - 14 - 17 - 22 - 1 = 1,130)
         • Signatures were considered individually i.e. we did not reject a whole sheet if a signature failed for any reason; any entries on a page that were able to be validated were counted as validated signatures."