New Mayo GAA controversy is set to rumble on
THE first major controversy facing the new Mayo GAA County Board, caused by a voting error during the contest for the board's two Connaught Council delegates, is set to continue into the New Year.
The episode arose following the vote for the two positions at the annual convention in Belmullet after Vincent Neary, Bonniconlon, and Ardnaree's Johnny O'Malley were declared elected.
The two candidates to lose out were Johnny Hopkins, The Neale, and Ger McHugh, Hollymount/Carramore.
However, as exclusively revealed by The Connaught Telegraph, a mistake was made during the counting of votes and, as a result, the outcome of the contest was deemed incorrect.
For such contests the PR system is used to get the result. In this case, this is where the mistake was made.
After the first count was concluded Vincent Neary had exceeded the quota. Count two saw his surplus distributed among the three remaining candidates.
Count three then saw the candidate with the lowest number of votes, Ger McHugh, being eliminated and his votes distributed.
But it at this point the count went wrong in that McHugh's number twos were divided among the other three candidates, including Vincent Neary, who was already elected.
Neary should not have been involved in the count at this stage and any number two votes that Neary was to get from McHugh should go to whichever of the candidates got McHugh's number threes.
If this had been rightly correctly it would have placed Hopkins ahead of O'Malley and elected him as the second Connaught Council delegate.
However, Mr. O'Malley's stance regarding the vote still stands in that he was declared elected and that as far as he concerned he is one of the two people elected to represent the county on Connaught Council.
“My stance on this issue hasn't changed. I was selected by my club (Ardnaree) to put my name on the ballot sheet for one of the two Mayo Connaught Council positions at the Mayo GAA Convention.
"Following the vote I was declared elected and as far as I am concerned nothing has changed since,” said Mr. O'Malley.
After the revelation by The Connaught Telegraph, the Mayo GAA County Board issued the following statement: "Following convention a procedural error in relation to the counting of votes in the Connacht Council election was brought to the attention of Mayo GAA by one of the counting team.
"Croke Park and the Connacht Council were contacted immediately to ascertain the next steps required to resolve the matter.
"All four candidates have been contacted in relation to this issue and it is hoped to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion in a timely manner."
However, it does not look like this problem is going to be easily solved due to the complications involved.