Candidates Announced for the 2026 Legislative Council Elections (10 April 2026)

Candidates were announced today for the periodic Legislative Council elections in Huon and Rosevears.

Ten candidates will contest seats in this election, including six in Huon and four in Rosevears.

Full details are available at tec.tas.gov.au/candidates.

Voting is compulsory for 57,402 Tasmanian electors, with enrolment figures for each division as follows:

  • Huon: 28,631
  • Rosevears: 28,771

Early voting options are available from Monday 13 April, ahead of polling day on Saturday 2 May 2026.

Next week, an information pack will be mailed to all eligible electors. It contains the names of candidates, early voting details, and polling place locations for polling day.

Further information about ways to vote in this election is now available on the TEC website.

Strong Early Voting Ahead of Legislative Council Polling Day (27 April 2026)

More than 6,000 votes have already been cast ahead of this Saturday’s Legislative Council elections in Huon and Rosevears, with strong participation through pre-poll and postal voting.

Over 4,000 postal ballot packs have been issued, with 30% already returned. It is now too late to apply for a postal vote.

Electors who are unable to attend a polling place on polling day will need to vote early. Five pre-poll centres are open this week, from 8:30am to 5:30pm and until 6:00 pm on Friday.

Telephone voting opens at 10:00am on Monday, for interstate and overseas electors, and for electors with a print disability. Details are available on the TEC website.

Polling day is Saturday 2 May. Electors can vote at one of 38 polling places that will be open from 8:00am to 6:00pm. Locations are available on the TEC website and will be published in The Mercury and The Examiner on Saturday.

Media Release – Tasmanian Electoral Commission, 2 May 2026

Counting is Now Underway for the 2026 Legislative Council Elections

Polling has now closed and counting has commenced for Legislative Council elections in the divisions of Huon and Rosevears.

Provisional figures are now available, which include votes from all polling places, pre-poll centres and mobile polling.

When counting adjourned this evening, progressive results were as follows:

  • Huon: Dean Harris (30.6%) leads Clare Glade-Wright (27.83%), followed by Abby McKibben (16.49%), Paul Gibson (15.08%), Rowan Michael (5.38%) and Tyler Petersen (4.61%).
  • Rosevears: Jo Palmer (42.68%) leads Ben Mckinnon (24.73%), followed by Charlene McLennan (16.59%) and Susan Monson (16.01%).

Percentages relate to the progressive formal votes counted to date.

In preparation for the next stage of the count, work on Sunday will focus on checking and verifying ballot papers, including the transfer of out-of-division votes to the correct division and assessing the eligibility of provisional votes.

Counting on Monday will begin with approximately 860 telephone votes, followed by provisional and out-of-division votes. Rechecks of first preferences will then commence and continue on Tuesday.

Results will be updated progressively on the TEC website.

Counting of postal votes will begin on Thursday, in accordance with procedural changes legislated in 2024, which require the Commission to confirm a person has not voted by any other method before their postal vote can be counted.

This process requires roll mark-off data from all polling places to be finalised and available before postal packs can be checked against the roll and ballot papers are extracted for counting.

Media Release – Tasmanian Electoral Commission, 4 May 2026

Counting Continues for Legislative Council Elections

Counting continued and rechecks commenced today, for Legislative Council elections in Huon and Rosevears. All provisional, out-of-division and telephone votes have now been added to the tally.

Progressive figures are available on the TEC website.

The tally is unlikely to change significantly tomorrow; updates will be published throughout the day as rechecks are completed.

On Wednesday, TEC staff will process all available postal votes to confirm electors have not voted by any other method, before these ballot papers are counted on Thursday morning.

Media Release – Tasmanian Electoral Commission, 7 May 2026

Huon Preference Count Begins While Rosevears Awaits Final Postal Votes

This morning, the Tasmanian Electoral Commission completed counting and rechecking of postal votes in Huon and Rosevears. Updated figures have now been published on the TEC website.

Huon:

  • The margin between the two lowest-ranked candidates in Huon (150) is greater than the number of outstanding postal votes (125). This means a provisional distribution of preferences can commence with the exclusion of Tyler Petersen.
  • As the distribution progresses, if margins between the remaining candidates become too close, the Commission will pause counting until the final postal votes are received on Tuesday at 10 am.
  • Results from the provisional distribution will be published progressively on the TEC website this afternoon.

Rosevears:

  • With a margin of 96 votes between the two lowest-ranked candidates in Rosevears, and 159 outstanding postal votes still to be received, it is not yet possible to determine the first exclusion order for a distribution of preferences.
  • Counting will now pause until final postal votes are received at 10:00am on Tuesday, with a result expected to be known later that day.

Media Release – Tasmanian Electoral Commission, 12 May 2026

Counting Complete in Rosevears

This afternoon, the distribution of preferences in Rosevears was completed and Jo Palmer has been elected.

Final figures are available on the TEC website.