NSW Election 2023: Where are Dubbo's candidates directing their preferences?

In Dubbo, both incumbent Nationals member Dugald Saunders and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers challenger Kate Richardson have chosen not to direct preferences to any of the other candidates on their 'how to vote' materials being handed out at polling booths.

However, Labor candidate Josh Black is encouraging his voters to number all the boxes on the ballot paper - preferencing the Shooters second and the Greens third followed by the Nationals, the Legalise Cannabis Party and the Sustainable Australia party.

Greens candidate Robyn Thomas is directing her voters to give their second preference votes to Labor and has not given any more preferences.

In NSW, preferential voting is optional meaning for a vote to count only one square on the ballot needs to be numbered. Then - if voters want to ensure their vote counts - they can continue numbering boxes on the card in order of preference.

If a candidate doesn't receive enough first preference votes, they will be knocked out and the votes they received will be distributed to the other candidates listed as second preference. The process continues until only two candidates are left and all preferences have been distributed.

In Barwon, incumbent Roy Butler - who is running as an independent this year after walking away from the Shooters - Nationals candidate Annette Turner, Shooters candidate Paul Britton and Greens candidate Pat Schultz are all directing their voters to just number the box next to their names.

Meanwhile, Labor candidate Joshua Roberts-Garnsey is directing his second preference votes towards the Greens, third preference to Butler and fourth to the Shooters.

While voters don't have to follow 'how to vote cards', preferences can play a big part in which candidate comes out on top on polling day.

In the last state election in 2019, Saunders earned 37.42 percent of the primary vote and independent candidate Mathew Dickerson came in second with 28.42 percent of the primary vote.

After preferences were counted, the margin between Saunders and Dickerson narrowed significantly with much of Labor candidate Stephen Lawrence and Greens candidate Rod Pryor's preferences being directed to Dickerson.

The final two-candidate preferred count saw Saunders come out on top with 52.02 percent after preferences and Dickerson at 47.98 percent.

Preferences also solidified Butler's victory over the Nationals in Barwon in 2019. Based on primary votes, Butler received 32.96 percent of the vote, only a touch over the 30.38 percent earned by Nationals candidate Andrew Schier.

However, after preferences were distributed Butler had a solid lead of 56.60 percent to the Nationals 43.40 percent.

The state election will be held on Saturday, March 25. Pre-poll voting has already opened for those who will not be able to vote on election day.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: