VOTING for the Voice referendum concluded on Saturday with the results for Hamilton following the nationwide trend of a strong No.
Overall, there were 8740 votes cast in Hamilton at two locations (Hamilton Senior Citizens Centre and Patterson Park Hall) with 6527 residents voting for No (74.7 per cent), 2128 for Yes (24.3 per cent) and 85 informal votes (1 per cent).
The Hamilton No vote was above the Wannon electorate average of 68.79 per cent.
Pre polling at the Hamilton Senior Citizens Centre Pre Polling Voting Centre (PPVC) totalled 6718 votes, with 5096 votes towards No (75.9 per cent), 1564 Yes votes (23.3 per cent) and 58 informal votes (0.86 per cent).
At the two polling centres on Saturday there were 2022 votes cast, with 1431 No votes (70.8 per cent), 564 Yes votes (27.9 per cent) and 27 informal votes (1.3 per cent).
In Tarrington there were 182 votes with 134 for No (73.6 per cent), 48 for Yes (26.4 per cent) and 0 informal votes.
Across Wannon there were 99,007 total votes – 67,453 voted for No (68.1 per cent), 30,608 for Yes (30.9 per cent) with 946 being informal (0.96 per cent).
There were 98 polling stations in Wannon, with Warrnambool recording the most votes in the electorate with 25,732, returning 16,812 No votes (65.3 per cent) and 8659 Yes votes (33.6 per cent).
In Victoria there were 4,468,879 residents enrolled but at time of publication the AEC only reported 3,553,913 having voted, with 36,504 informal votes – 1,935,316 voted No (55.02 per cent) and 1,582,093 voted Yes (44.98 per cent).
No states had a majority Yes vote, however in the Australian Capital Territory 60.78 per cent of residents voted Yes.
Queensland had the lowest percentage of Yes votes out of all states with only 31.1 per cent.
The referendum was a proposal to add a new chapter to the Australian Constitution, Chapter IX-Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to the Constitution, and would have included a new section which would have read:
129 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice
In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:
there shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;
the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.
