Few votes separating Labor's David Smith and independent Jessie Price as final pre-poll envelopes countedPBy Patrick BellTopic:Elections42m ago42 minutes agoThu 8 May 2025 at 3:48amLabor incumbent David Smith and independent candidate Jessie Price have been locked in a battle for Bean for days. (ABC News)In Short:The vote count for the electorate of Bean will likely continue for many days as the margin narrows.Current Australian Electoral Commission data has just 19 votes separating Jessie Price and David Smith.What's next:The AEC is processing almost 4,000 postal votes.abc.net.au/news/bean-electorate-too-tight-postal-votes/103907506Link copiedShareShare articleThe vote count for the southern ACT electorate of Bean looks set to drag on for days, as the margin between the Labor incumbent and the independent challenger remains exceptionally close.The ABC has stopped using a projection from its election computer, given how advanced the count is, and is now reporting the raw figures provided by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).Independent candidate Jessie Price is currently on 50.01 per cent of the two-candidate preferred (TCP) vote, 194 votes ahead of Labor MP David Smith.Federal politics live updates: Get the latest on the post-election election landscapeLive results: Find out what's happening in your seat as counting continuesIf the final margin between them is less than 100 votes, the AEC will conduct a recount.All election day and pre-poll booths have now reported a TCP count, and the final result will depend on outstanding postal, absentee, and declaration votes.The AEC says there are 3,897 envelopes which have been received and are awaiting processing.A further 3,928 envelopes were issued, but have not yet been received.The deadline for the AEC to accept postal votes is Friday, May 16.During a walk around Lake Burley Griffin this morning, Ms Price took to Instagram to update her followers on the count."[There's] nothing more we can do, [we're] just waiting for the numbers," she said."Hang in there everyone, it's so close. What a thing we've done."The ABC has contacted David Smith's office for comment.If Ms Price wins Bean, she will become the first non-Labor MP for an ACT House of Representatives seat since Brendan Smyth won the Canberra by-election for the Liberal Party in 1995, and held the seat for one year.Election fallout and analysis:How Peter Dutton's campaign flew off a cliffANALYSIS: The Coalition is split on nuclear after it failed to win votesAnthony Albanese suggests Greens responsible for their own fallWant even more? 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