LIBERAL Greg Aplin has finished his election campaign with a similar number of primary votes to that which won him three previous victories for the seat of Albury.
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The completion of final counting saw Mr Aplin win 26,800 votes to comfortably hold the seat for a fourth time.
His final tally is more than the 26,316 votes he scored four years ago, but slightly less than the 27,643 and 26,826 he gained in his first two election campaigns.
However, Mr Aplin’s previous margin of 27.1 per cent will be cut in half by Labor’s best election showing since 1984, when the late Harold Mair retained the seat in a three-way battle between Liberal Ian Glachan and Democrat Chris Rooke.
Mr Mair polled 15,788 to narrowly beat Mr Glachan on 14,617 — four years later the Liberal candidate reclaimed the seat he lost in 1976.
First-time Labor candidate Ross Jackson finished with a primary vote tally of 14,684 in a major rebound for the party after the 2011 result, when Darren Cameron polled just 6566 votes.
Mr Cameron was campaign manager for Mr Jackson at last month’s poll.
Labor cashed in on the absence of a high- profile independent in the election race after Albury councillor Paul Wareham polled 6276 votes in 2011.
The voting for Christian Democrat Kym Wade (1254) and the Greens’ Niloufer King (2603) were comparable with the election result four years ago.
No Land Tax candidate John Marra snared 1006 votes.
Mr Aplin won every polling booth, with Mr Jackson coming closest to winning Urana, where he fell eight votes short.
In the major booths in Albury, Mr Aplin had his biggest scare at Springdale Heights, where he won 398 to 375.
Mr Aplin also won the pre polls 3788 to 1953, postals 1819 to 776 and ivotes 1321 to 659.
The 1681 informal votes was comparative to the 1667 recorded in 2011.
