1920 Ballaarat by-election
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The 1920 Ballaarat by-election was held on 10 July 1920 to elect the member for Ballaarat in the Australian House of Representatives.[1][2]
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10 July 1920
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Division of Ballaarat in the House of Representatives | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 76.7% ( 5.8) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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At the 1919 federal election, Nationalist candidate Edwin Kerby defeated the sitting Labor MP Charles McGrath by a single vote, the narrowest margin in Australian electoral history.[3] McGrath challenged the result successfully on the grounds of electoral irregularities, triggering the by-election, at which McGrath was victorious.[4]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Charles McGrath | 15,058 | 51.7 | +1.7 | |
| Nationalist | Edwin Kerby | 11,443 | 39.3 | −10.7 | |
| Farmers | John Troup | 2,413 | 8.3 | +8.3 | |
| Independent | Edward Callow | 186 | 0.6 | +0.6 | |
| Total formal votes | 29,100 | 99.3 | |||
| Informal votes | 214 | 0.7 | |||
| Turnout | 29,314 | 76.7 | −5.8 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Charles McGrath | 56.1 | +6.1 | ||
| Nationalist | Edwin Kerby | 43.9 | −6.1 | ||
| Labor gain from Nationalist | Swing | +6.1 | |||