Across the local government area, 19,214 residential and non-residential electors were enrolled to vote as of October 25. Of those, 16,136 turned out to vote - 83.98 per cent - and of those who did, 5.66 per cent voted informally and were not counted.

There were 32 candidates, with 18 of those grouped into three above the line groups: The Greens, Labor and the Margaret O'Connor group.

Eleven councillors have now been listed as elected. The NSW Electoral Commission virtual tally room results on December 20 show the top four positions as the three above the line groups and one independent.

Read also:

The Margaret O'Connor Group (10.84 per cent), The Greens' (7.9 per cent) Dorothy Robinson and Labor's (11.73 per cent) Debra O'Brien are on top of the heap along with independent Sam Coupland, who romped home with 12.46 per cent of the formal votes.

Mr Copeland said he was 'thrilled' with the primary vote that he received.

"If effort counts for something then I had a feeling I would be in with a good chance of getting elected but I certainly wasn't expecting the large number of votes that came my way," he said.

"What is very interesting is that the 'above the line' vote increased from 33.2 per cent in the 2017 election to 39.33 per cent this time.

"This is reflected in Labor getting a second candidate on."

The informal vote was also very high, Mr Copeland said, and he suspect this was an increased protest vote arising from dissatisfaction with the performance of the previous council.

"The newly elected council is very diverse in terms of experience outside of council," he said.

"I am really hopeful this will bring some new ideas to the fore and I am genuinely looking forward to working with all councillors.

"No doubt discussion will be robust at times but it should always be respectful and once a decision has been made the councillors should lock in behind it."

Debra O'Brien will be joined by fellow Labor candidate Susan McMichael who only received 0.13 per cent of the formal votes but managed to bump Rob Richardson off the bottom of the ladder with preferences.

Former deputy mayor Ms O'Brien said she was delighted to be re-elected.

"We worked hard and went through so much to turn the council around - I want to be part of that upward path," she said.

"I am also very happy to see so many of those who worked with me through that difficult time back again. They deserve it. I can't wait until our new team starts working together."

Ms O'Brien said she was 'absolutely thrilled' that her number two on the Labor ticket had also been elected.

"Susan McMichael is a hard-working community service worker and will be an asset on the council," she said. "After all, a council is first and foremost a community service."

Next elected was former councillor Jon Galletly coming in at number 23, followed by Steven Mepham at 25, new faces Todd Redwood at 26, Paul Gaddes and Paul Packham at 28 and former councillor Brad Widders also at 28. Widders served on the first council after the amalgamation. He resigned in 2020 - the last of four councillors to depart while the council was suspended.

Mr Redwood said he was not surprised by the people declared elected.

"The three groups were very likely to have their respective leaders returned for various reasons, and Sam Coupland is a very capable and respected candidate who ran a strong and convincing campaign," he said.

"Jon Galletly was also a very likely candidate for re-election and while the numbers came his way slower than expected, will be a beneficial addition to the new council."

The Greens' candidate Dr Dorothy Robinson said the 'significant swing' towards herself and the other above the line candidates showed the community supported them.

"They supported our efforts to stand up for them and for what we believed was right," Dr Robinson said. Thanks to everyone who worked to achieve this.

"We now have much work to do and face difficulties such as cost-shifting and financial constraints including reduced funding to maintain our assets.

"Successful grant funding from other levels of government will be high on my, and hopefully everyone's, priority list.

"Most of the councillors who stood for re-election considered the issues on merit and put the interests of just the community first. If the newly elected councillors do the same, we can look for some great achievements."

Votes were also tallied on the referendum question: Do you support a reduction in the number of councillors for Armidale Regional Council from eleven to nine?

From the 15,804 formal votes counted, a substantial majority of 68.91 per cent said yes, they are in favour of the reduction.

There's now a 24-hour wait to see if there are any requests for a recount. If no requests are received, the results will be made official.

Armidale Regional Council general manager James Roncon will continue to be the authority to carry out the civic and ceremonial functions of the council and mayoral office until the mayoral election on Wednesday, January 12.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: