THE prospect of more than one Albury Council ticket getting multiple candidates elected on September 10 has soared following the retirement of Patricia Gould.
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Mrs Gould, the council's longest serving councillor who retired earlier this year after almost 42 years service, was a vote-winning machine.
She topped the first preference count as late as the 2008 election with her 1463 votes guaranteeing her a fifth term as mayor and ensuring another ticket member, No.2 Rob Angus, was also elected to council.
At the 2012 election, her primary vote dropped 654, but she still was the second candidate elected behind Cr Alice Glachan, who polled 951 votes, and dragged her No.2 Graham Docksey across the line.
Mrs Gould's absence from the election leaves many votes up for grabs for all tickets.
Cr Glachan and Cr Docksey are running first and second on the same ticket again and there is a real chance the No.3 Vicki Gray could also get elected.
Ms Gray ran second on Mrs Gould's ticket four years ago and polled more first preference votes than Cr Docksey, but was not elected.
Other members of the outgoing council standing for re-election, mayor Henk van de Ven, Cr Kevin Mack, Cr David Thurley, Cr Darren Cameron and Cr Ross Jackson are all standing again.
Cr Jackson's position at No.4 on Cr Mack's ticket puts him out of contention, but his strong personal vote from four years ago, if replicated, could secure No.2 John Stuchberry a spot.
Cr Jackson was the third candidate elected four years ago and continued an excellent strike-rate for the Albury Citizens and Ratepayers Association.
Philomena Sawyer was also an ACRA candidate in 2008 and won a spot before being unsuccessful four years later.
ACRM has traditionally fielded a full ticket of five, but it can only manage two candidates, Emily Lightfoot and John Lindner, this time around.
The Greens are fielding a candidate in an Albury election for the first time with Amanda Cohn a strong chance.
