Ballots are in the mail

By Jim Mynard
CASEY residents will receive postal ballot papers in their mail boxes in early November.
The papers will be posted at random on 8, 9, and 10 November.
But voters living in the same house may not receive their documents on the same day.
Fortyfour candidates will contest 11 vacancies in six wards, with two vacancies in the Edrington, Four Oaks, Mayfield, River Gum, and Springfield wards and one in Balla Balla Ward.
Former mayor Mick Morland, former Berwick RSL president Brian Hetherton, and Greens candidate Craig Jones will vie for two vacancies in the prestigious Edrington Ward.
Four Oaks Ward has 14 candidates, including two former mayors John Hastie and Rob Wilson.
Former Casey councillor Sam Afra will also contest the seat.
Incumbent councillor Roland Abraham faces an uphill battle to retain one of the two vacancies.
In Balla Balla Ward, sitting councillor Colin Butler has been challenged by three candidates.
Cr Butler polled well in the 2003 election, taking 36 per cent of the primary vote.
Shortterm councillor Steve Beardon is having another go at a position on the council in Mayfield Ward.
Mr Beardon, after winning Strathard Ward in 2003, resigned from the council within a few weeks after coming under sustained attack by most other councillors.
He is one of nine candidates trying to unseat sitting councillor Kevin Bradford who has been an active councillor.
Husband and wife team Chris and Julie Kelly will also contest the ward.
Two former mayors, Janet Halsall and sitting councillor Wayne Smith, will contest River Gum Ward.
Also in the race for River Gum are Casey citizen of the year for 2000, Warren Calder, former City of Knox mayor Tom Blaze, and Angelo Georgatsos.
Sitting councillors Angela Dunleavy and Lorraine Wreford will battle for Springfield Ward against six other candidates.
Among the field is former Casey ambassador, the youthful Michelle Steeden, who polled well in her first attempt for a council seat with 18.22 per cent of the vote against six candidates in the 2003 Strathard Ward election.
Ms Steeden then polled 15.2 per cent of the vote in the Strathard byelection a few weeks later against eight candidates.