The draw: Former councillor, Bob Sharpham and returning officer, Ken Rasion drawing candidates' names.
LADY luck has smiled upon mayoral hopeful Reg Pierce.
His name will top the mayoral ballot paper after the official ballot paper draw on Wednesday.
Eight people Peter Alley, Peter Besseling, Sharon Griffiths, Lisa Intemann, Bob McGowan, Reg Pierce, Adam Roberts and Keith Wilkinson are vying for the honour of popularly elected mayor.
Mr Pierce said the number one mayoral ballot paper position was advantageous because it would hit people straight in the eye.
"I'm pretty excited about it because I would like to become the mayor as I have some pretty strong ideas on what needs to be done to get the Hastings moving again," he said.
Mr Pierce said ultimately it was the people's choice, not the ballot paper position, that made the difference. The group of councillor candidates headed by Peter Besseling, and ungrouped councillor aspirant Leigh Fitz-Alan, also fared well in the draw.
The grouped councillor candidates' draw resulted in Mr Besseling's four-member team randomly selected first, which means his group will appear on the left-hand side on the ballot paper. Five groups are contesting the councillor election.
Mr Besseling said he thought quite often the position on the ballot paper was overstated.
However, he said, if it made a difference, it was all the better.
“We obviously believe we have a very strong experienced team and we are quite happy to be number one on the ticket,” he said.
Mr Fitz-Alan secured the top spot in the ungrouped councillors’ draw.
The North Shore builder said he was “stoked”.
“I want to get on the council to work with other councillors and the mayor to give the constituents back
what they deserve,” he said.
There are two ballot papers - one for the popularly elected mayoral contenders and another to decide the eight councillors.
The 12 ungrouped councillors candidates’ names will appear alongside the grouped candidates on the councillors’ ballot paper.
Returning officer Ken Raison officiated at the ballot draw.
Some 32 people are in the running for the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council election, which will return a popularly elected mayor and councillors.
The then councillors were sacked in 2008. Voters go to the polls on September 8.
