State election: Geraldton’s returning officer Brian Robartson hints this could be his last poll after 43 years

In this part of the voting world, Brian Robartson has well and truly earnt the title of Mr Election. For more than 40 years, he has been tasked with running many State elections, a by-election or two — even 2023’s City of Perth poll that resulted in Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas’ re-election. His first post was for the now-abolished district of Greenough in 1982. As returning officer for the district of Geraldton in Saturday’s election, Mr Robartson has again ventured out of retirement. He finished at the City of Greater Geraldton in 2022 after 30 years. He concedes he’s probably lost count of how many elections he’s been in charge of. “I’d be up around 15, 16,” he said. “The joke is all returning officers, after they deliver a State election, they say ‘well, that’ll be the last’ but they’re every four years. We tend to keep coming back.” The closest election he’s overseen was in 2021 for North West Central, when there were fewer than 40 votes between first and second candidates after the first preference count. Despite the stress of the job, the possibility of counting mistakes does not weigh too heavily on his mind, adding that with the support of the WA Electoral Commission “we do our checks and measures and we get by”. Thousands of people have flocked to Geraldton’s early voting centre leading up to March 8 to cast their ballot early. Now the WAEC no longer requires an excuse of why someone can not vote on election day, the popularity of early voting has surged. “It gives people with families the opportunity to get on with their lives with all their activities they have on weekends,” Mr Robartson said. Mr Robartson said the early voting turnout had been “hectic” and “constant”, and was confident of beating the prepoll turnout in Geraldton from the 2021 election of 50 per cent. So far this election, it had been smooth running “Dealing with electors can sometimes be challenging but we put on a happy, smiley face and we are there as their servant and they know they have to vote compulsorily,” Mr Robartson said. He said the candidates and their teams had been “tremendous” to deal with. One of the most satisfying parts of the role for Mr Robartson has been handling elections in remote communities, some which have been close to the Northern Territory and South Australian borders. “We’ve had all sorts of polling places. We can always set up a polling place under the gum tree, we joke about,” he said. So will this returning officer return for another election or is this one really his last? “You never say never but I think so, this will be my last,” he said.