00:0019-year-old Libby Austin's name isn't on the how-to-vote cards she's handing out.
00:07She's already won a spot on Penrith Local Council without a single vote being cast.
00:12It is just a crazy experience.
00:15I am so excited because, you know, one day maybe I hope that I might get the chance to.
00:20But now it gets to happen now and I guess I'm just, I can't wait for it to begin.
00:23The first year uni student put up her hand as a ballot filler for what was supposed to
00:27be the unwinnable fifth spot on Labor's ticket for East Ward.
00:31But after the Liberal Party failed to nominate any candidates to run against her, she's been
00:36automatically elected.
00:37Oh I am very nervous.
00:39I'm very nervous.
00:40You know, I'm 19, I'm going into this very, very, you know, exciting adventure.
00:44It's an amazing opportunity and there's a lot of, you know, responsibility being the
00:48youngest on council to represent everybody in the community.
00:51Proving age really is no barrier, one of the other people elected on the same Labor ticket
00:55is 84-year-old life member Edmund Mifsud.
00:58Edmund Mifsud and Libby Austin are just some of the councillors who've been elected unopposed
01:03in 14 local government areas across the state because the Liberal Party's failure to nominate
01:08in time meant there weren't enough candidates for the New South Wales Electoral Commission
01:12to be able to hold a vote in those areas.
01:15While the nominations fiasco ended the political hopes of many would-be candidates, it's been
01:20a gift for at least one former Liberal.
01:23Lane Cove Mayor Scott Benison quit the party after losing his pre-selection and nominated
01:27as an Independent.
01:28Yes, I dodged a bullet and I got my forms in on time so here I am.
01:32He says with no Liberals running in Lane Cove and the Northern Beaches, Saturday's unpredictable
01:37results could make for a motley crew of councillors and dysfunctional councils.
01:42It is a nightmare for councils all around New South Wales because suddenly the politics
01:46will shift and the residents may not get what they want because of Liberals failing to get
01:52their forms in.
01:53A failure that's led to elections unlike any we've seen before.
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