THE final election results for the Upper Hunter Shire are in and the vote for change was resoundingly clear, with newcomers taking 57% of the vote, a loud message to the previous Councillors. Adding insult to injury, James Burns former Deputy Mayor, did not get enough 1 votes to secure a place on Council and lost any position on Council after preferences were distributed. There were only 15 primary votes separating Allison McPhee in number 10 position and James Burns in Number 9 position. Newcomer Troy Stolz described it as, “two seagulls fitting over the last chip.” Ultimately James Burns lost the chip. Amazingly three new people made quota, Peter McGill (1192 votes) George Fraser (1003 votes) and Troy Stolz (919 votes), representing 38% of the vote. What’s quota? The number of votes needed to guarantee a spot on Council. In this Shire quota was 827 votes. Only one person from the old Council made quota, Maurice Collison (1,200 primary votes). No other previous Councillors made quota. Since there were only 11 candidates and 9 spots, it means the two people with the lowest votes are out and the remaining candidates all become Councillors by default. New Compared to Old…