The result of the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner elections
The successful candidate in the 2016 Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner elections is Katy Bourne, who was elected with a total of 139,335 votes in a two stage count following voting which took place across East and West Sussex and Brighton and Hove on Thursday 5 May. In the Arun district, Katy Bourne gained 9,803 first preference votes.
Under the Supplementary Voting System which is used for Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England, the first preference votes of all candidates are counted and any candidate with more than 50% of the first preference votes is duly elected.
The first preference votes of all the candidates in the Sussex PCC election was as follows:
Katy Bourne 114,570 votes, 41.78%
James Doyle 26,038 votes, 9.49%
Michael Jones 61,017 votes, 22.25%
Patrick Lowe 43,075 votes, 15.71%
James Walsh 29,550 votes, 10.77%
A total of 7,288 ballot papers was rejected.
As no candidate had more than 50% of the votes cast, the two leading candidates, Katy Bourne and Michael Jones, went through to a second stage of the count when any second preference votes they have received on the other candidates’ ballot papers were added to their first preference vote total. This process determined which candidate was elected.
Election counts took place in 13 local authorities in East and West Sussex and was co-ordinated by Wealden District Council. The turn-out for the Arun District electorate was 19.92%, with the Sussex area turnout, totalling 23.14%.
Nigel Lynn, Returning Officer for Arun District Council said “I would like to thank all the staff that ensured polling stations ran smoothly and that an efficient and accurate count took place. It is a busy time for all those in our district that are involved with the elections as we are already preparing for the EU Referendum on 23 June 2016. It is vital that you are registered to ensure you can vote.”