Electoral results for the district of Preston

This is a list of electoral results for the Electoral district of Preston in Victorian state elections.

Members for Preston

Member		Party	Term
	William Ruthven	Labor	1945–1955
	Charlie Ring	Labor	1955–1970
	Carl Kirkwood	Labor	1970–1988
	Michael Leighton	Labor	1988–2006
	Robin Scott	Labor	2006–present

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

Victorian state election, 2014: Preston[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Robin Scott	17,607	48.4	−5.5
	Liberal	John Forster	7,694	21.2	−5.1
	Greens	Rose Ljubicic	5,869	16.1	−3.0
	Independent	Gaetano Greco	4,103	11.3	+11.3
	Family First	Rachel Ward	1,091	3.0	+2.7
Total formal votes			36,364	94.7	+1.2
Informal votes			2,043	5.3	−1.2
Turnout			38,407	90.8	+0.2
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Robin Scott	27,199	74.7	+4.5
	Liberal	John Forster	9,235	25.3	−4.5
	Labor hold		Swing	+4.5

Victorian state election, 2010: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Robin Scott	17,400	52.65	-8.93
	Liberal	Adin McGarvie	8,593	26.00	+5.67
	Greens	Trent McCarthy	7,058	21.35	+7.67
Total formal votes			33,051	93.71	+0.49
Informal votes			2,219	6.29	-0.49
Turnout			35,270	91.23	+0.08
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Robin Scott	23,250	70.38	-4.92
	Liberal	Adin McGarvie	9,783	29.62	+4.92
	Labor hold		Swing	-4.92

Elections in the 2000s

Victorian state election, 2006: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Robin Scott	19,809	61.6	-5.1
	Liberal	Peter Hammond	6,539	20.3	+1.5
	Greens	Chris Chaplin	4,400	13.7	+0.4
	Family First	Christopher Field	1,141	3.5	+3.5
	CEC	Robert Barwick	281	0.9	-0.3
Total formal votes			32,170	93.2	-2.3
Informal votes			2,339	6.8	+2.3
Turnout			34,509	91.2
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Robin Scott	24,222	75.3	-1.9
	Liberal	Peter Hammond	7,944	24.7	+1.9
	Labor hold		Swing	-1.9

Victorian state election, 2002: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Michael Leighton	22,271	66.7	-0.5
	Liberal	Lawrence Dean	6,267	18.8	-10.6
	Greens	Chris Chaplin	4,458	13.3	+13.0
	CEC	Noelene Isherwood	415	1.2	+1.2
Total formal votes			33,411	95.5	-0.2
Informal votes			1,575	4.5	+0.2
Turnout			34,986	91.6
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Michael Leighton	25,785	77.2	+8.4
	Liberal	Lawrence Dean	7,617	22.8	-8.4
	Labor hold		Swing	+8.4

Elections in the 1990s

Victorian state election, 1999: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Michael Leighton	20,087	67.2	+3.3
	Liberal	Ruth Padgett	8,769	29.3	-4.6
	Natural Law	Michael Dickins	1,052	3.5	+1.2
Total formal votes			29,908	95.7	-0.1
Informal votes			1,339	4.3	+0.1
Turnout			31,247	92.5
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Michael Leighton	20,522	68.6	+3.3
	Liberal	Ruth Padgett	9,384	31.4	-3.3
	Labor hold		Swing	+3.3

Victorian state election, 1996: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Michael Leighton	18,890	63.8	+4.2
	Liberal	Ruth Padgett	10,026	33.9	+1.7
	Natural Law	Richard Barnes	685	2.3	+0.9
Total formal votes			29,601	95.8	+2.1
Informal votes			1,292	4.2	-2.1
Turnout			30,893	93.3
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Michael Leighton	19,332	65.3	-0.9
	Liberal	Ruth Padgett	10,254	34.7	+0.9
	Labor hold		Swing	-0.9

Victorian state election, 1992: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Michael Leighton	17,403	59.6	-3.1
	Liberal	George Prillwitz	9,382	32.1	+3.9
	Independent	Rose-Marie Celestin	1,148	3.9	+3.9
	Independent	Justin Armstrong	824	2.8	+2.8
	Natural Law	Richard Barnes	427	1.5	+1.5
Total formal votes			29,184	93.7	+0.3
Informal votes			1,958	6.3	-0.3
Turnout			31,142	94.0
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Michael Leighton	19,278	66.2	-2.4
	Liberal	George Prillwitz	9,854	33.8	+2.4
	Labor hold		Swing	-2.4

Elections in the 1980s

Victorian state election, 1988: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Michael Leighton	18,026	71.07	+1.50
	Liberal	Peter Papaemmanouil	7,336	28.93	-1.50
Total formal votes			25,362	92.94	-2.84
Informal votes			1,928	7.06	+2.84
Turnout			27,290	90.40	-0.91
	Labor hold		Swing	+1.50

Victorian state election, 1985: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Carl Kirkwood	19,473	69.6	-1.5
	Liberal	Mark Leaman	8,517	30.4	+20.0
Total formal votes			27,990	95.8
Informal votes			1,234	4.2
Turnout			29,224	91.3
	Labor hold		Swing	-5.3

Victorian state election, 1982: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Carl Kirkwood	17,544	74.5	+3.0
	Democrats	Kenneth Peak	6,015	25.5	+25.5
Total formal votes			23,559	94.6	-0.8
Informal votes			1,338	5.4	+0.8
Turnout			24,897	93.1	+1.3
	Labor hold		Swing	+3.0

Elections in the 1970s

Victorian state election, 1979: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Carl Kirkwood	17,295	71.5	+5.7
	Liberal	Elie Obeid	6,890	28.5	-5.7
Total formal votes			24,185	95.4	-0.8
Informal votes			1,163	4.6	+0.8
Turnout			25,348	91.8	-0.1
	Labor hold		Swing	+5.7

Victorian state election, 1976: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Carl Kirkwood	16,869	65.8	+10.8
	Liberal	John Miles	8,781	34.2	+2.4
Total formal votes			25,650	96.2
Informal votes			1,009	3.8
Turnout			26,659	91.9
	Labor hold		Swing	+7.1

Victorian state election, 1973: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Carl Kirkwood	12,456	54.7	+0.2
	Liberal	Gerard Clarke	7,728	33.9	+6.0
	Democratic Labor	Maurice Horwood	1,786	7.8	-9.7
	Independent	Timothy Galbally	814	3.6	+3.6
Total formal votes			22,784	95.2	-0.1
Informal votes			1,138	4.8	+0.1
Turnout			23,922	93.1	-1.6
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Carl Kirkwood	13,130	57.6	+0.5
	Liberal	Gerard Clarke	9,654	42.4	-0.5
	Labor hold		Swing	+0.5

Victorian state election, 1970: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Carl Kirkwood	11,958	54.5	+3.7
	Liberal	Bruce Spicer	6,127	27.9	-3.0
	Democratic Labor	Maurice Horwood	3,844	17.5	-0.8
Total formal votes			21,929	95.3	-0.3
Informal votes			1,071	4.7	+0.3
Turnout			23,000	94.7	-0.7
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Carl Kirkwood	12,534	57.1	+3.6
	Liberal	Bruce Spicer	9,395	42.9	-3.6
	Labor hold		Swing	+3.6

Elections in the 1960s

Victorian state election, 1967: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Charlie Ring	11,395	50.8	-2.5
	Liberal	James Spicer	6,936	30.9	+3.2
	Democratic Labor	Maurice Horwood	4,115	18.3	-0.3
Total formal votes			22,446	95.6
Informal votes			1,029	4.4
Turnout			23,475	95.4
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Charlie Ring	12,013	53.5	-2.8
	Liberal	James Spicer	10,433	46.5	+2.8
	Labor hold		Swing	-2.8

Victorian state election, 1964: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Charlie Ring	13,417	55.6	+0.8
	Liberal and Country	Henry Newland	6,000	24.9	+3.2
	Democratic Labor	Michael Lucy	4,695	19.5	-4.6
Total formal votes			24,112	97.6	+0.1
Informal votes			586	2.4	-0.1
Turnout			24,698	95.2	+0.4
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Charlie Ring	15,918	59.9	-1.9
	Liberal and Country	Henry Newland	10,669	40.1	+1.9
	Labor hold		Swing	-1.9

Victorian state election, 1961: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Charlie Ring	13,435	54.8	+0.7
	Democratic Labor	Michael Lucy	5,904	24.1	+0.4
	Liberal and Country	Colin Pritchard	5,168	21.1	-1.1
Total formal votes			24,507	97.5	-0.3
Informal votes			619	2.5	+0.3
Turnout			25,126	94.8	0.0
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Charlie Ring	14,320	58.4	+0.8
	Liberal and Country	Colin Pritchard	10,187	41.6	-0.8
	Labor hold		Swing	+0.8

• The two candidate preferred vote was not counted between the Labor and DLP candidates for Preston.

Elections in the 1950s

Victorian state election, 1958: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Charlie Ring	13,014	54.1
	Democratic Labor	Michael Lucy	5,708	23.7
	Liberal and Country	Neville Crocker	5,355	22.2
Total formal votes			24,077	97.8
Informal votes			534	2.2
Turnout			24,611	94.8
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Charlie Ring	13,870	57.6
	Liberal and Country	Michael Lucy	10,207	42.4
	Labor hold		Swing

• The two candidate preferred vote was not counted between the Labor and DLP candidates.

Victorian state election, 1955: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Charlie Ring	11,429	52.4
	Liberal and Country	Arthur Block	6,881	31.5
	Labor (A-C)	Thomas Hartnedy	3,515	16.1
Total formal votes			21,825	97.6
Informal votes			542	2.4
Turnout			22,367	95.5
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Charlie Ring	11,955	54.8
	Liberal and Country	Arthur Block	9,870	45.2
	Labor hold		Swing

Victorian state election, 1952: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	William Ruthven	unopposed
	Labor hold		Swing

Victorian state election, 1950: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	William Ruthven	17,007	64.0	+7.0
	Liberal and Country	Vernon Hauser	9,561	36.0	-7.0
Total formal votes			26,568	99.2	-0.1
Informal votes			216	0.8	+0.1
Turnout			26,784	95.9	+0.3
	Labor hold		Swing	+7.0

References

• "Preston District results". Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 November 2011.

1. State Election 2014: Preston District, VEC.