The poll results on Thursday, September 6.
IT'S election time again, and The Queanbeyan Age has put its feelers out trying to get an early indication of which way the mayoral vote will go.
We turned to the ever-reliable internet at first, hoping that our online poll would take the town's political pulse. And while more than 1000 people responded with who they thought would be the next mayor of Queanbeyan, there's no way of knowing if respondents are locals or outsiders, concerned residents or political staffers.
Labor party member Brian Brown led the pack with 49.8 per cent of the vote by Thursday morning, while incumbent Tim Overall was next with 30.3 per cent. Jamie Cregan trailed behind with 13.3pc of the share, lower still is Ann Rocca at 5.5pc and Sue Whelan at the bottom registering 0.7pc of the votes.
Voting began last Friday but readers should be aware this is not a scientific poll. Mr Brown and Mr Overall's lion share could be attributed to their strong online presence with supporters tweeting for others to participate in the poll.
The Age also contacted three local business owners who have an ear to the ground to gauge some of the community's feelings in the lead up to the election.
Copper Kettle owner Frank Bresnik said the town's progression under Tim Overall's watch in the last four years might be enough to get Cr Overall a second term.
"Realisitically I can't see Tim Overall losing, I think people in this town are more than happy with Tim's performance and the council's performance in general. The talk has generally been pretty positive," he said.
"The Crawford Street project really galvanised opinion but a lot of the critics have since converted after seeing the finished product."
Jerrabomberra General Store manager Peter Hyndman said he thought it would be a close race between the incumbent and local family man Jamie Cregan.
"People have quite mixed opinions; they're not quite sure who they're going to go with," he said. "Some say they've had enough of Tim and want a fresh start but others are quite used to Tim and how the current council work.
"Jamie's got a local profile and is quite well-known in the area, a lot of people do like him."
Mr Hyndman said Jerrabomberra residents were concerned about council's financial expenditure.
"Many said the Crawford Street project took too long and was too expensive. Also, the town's entrance signs cost $40,000 and people just think the money could be better spent elsewhere," he said.
Crawford Street was also an issue for Home Hardware Karabar shop assistant Karen Daniel. She said she would've liked to see traffic removed from the street to make it more user-friendly.
One thing she is looking forward to is a new batch of councillors and hoped for more variety on the panel.
"Nobody's said a great deal to me about the elections but Tim Overall's stuff is everywhere, I haven't seen much of the other candidates," she said. "Whoever does get in though, I think they should fix the Queanbeyan Showgrounds."
Vote now: http://www.queanbeyanage.com.au/story/301401/queanbeyan-mayoral-survey/?cs=1529
