WODONGA councillor Tim Quilty is a big chance of vaulting into Victoria’s Upper House although he hasn’t “opened the champagne yet”.
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The Liberal Democrat is sitting third in Northern Victoria, behind Labor’s Mark Gepp and Liberal Wendy Lovell, according to the ABC’s vote calculator.
Five candidates are elected to the seat, with Wangaratta anti-crime campaigner Tania Maxwell fourth and Labor incumbent Jaclyn Symes fifth.
Mr Quilty has benefited from a string of preferences flowing his way, including those from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party.
“It’s looking good,” Mr Quilty said before noting there was a significant portion of the vote to be counted.
Asked to rate his chances, Mr Quilty said: “It could be as high as 80 per cent, but it’s not a lock yet.
“I haven’t opened the champagne yet, maybe later in the week.”
Mr Quilty was not surprised by the result because he believed a deal negotiated in part by so-called preference whisperer Glenn Druery would vacuum up allocations once a primary mark was achieved.
A printing drama proved costly for Mr Quilty on election day.
He was left without 3000 how-to-vote papers which were locked up in an Albury depot for the weekend after he could not collect them late last week.
As a result, Mr Quilty headed to Officeworks and printed off 500 voting cards at a cost of $350 before arriving at the Victory school polling station in west Wodonga at 10.45am, nearly three hours after it opened.
That ends on Monday, allowing him to vote in this morning’s mayoral election.
If elected to state parliament Mr Quilty is required to resign as a councillor.