Before Ms Staley was officially declared as the successful candidate of the marginal seat of Ripon, the ALP submitted a call for a formal recount of all votes.

“On Monday morning we lodged for a formal recount of all votes, we were of the opinion a formal recount had not been performed,” assistant state secretary and ALP deputy campaign manager Kosmos Samaras said.

“Although some scrutiny had been applied we believe full scrutiny of the whole count has not been performed.”

Mr Samaras said the ALP is “confident” votes for minor parties had been appropriately scrutineered but had doubts over votes for Ms Staley and ALP candidate Sarah De Santis.

“We were looking for a formal recount from start to finish,” he said.

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Ms Staley called for a recount last week after Ms De Santis held a 31-vote lead following preference distributions.

The recount resulted in Ms Staley finishing ahead by 15 votes.

A VEC spokesperson confirmed a second recount is not possible, especially since a successful candidate has already been declared.

“The only avenue from here on is to challenge the decision with the Court of Disputed Returns,” the spokesperson said.

"Once it's declared, anyone who wants to challenge that can request that the result be challenged.”

​A petition would have to be filed within 40 days, so the latest date for lodgement with the Supreme Court for the 2018 election would be January 24, 2019.

Mr Samaras said the ALP will consider taking the matter to court.

“We will consider taking up the matter with the Court of Disputed Returns, we believe there are discrepancies that must be addressed,” he said.

The ALP did not confirm it would definitely take the matter to court. 

Ms De Santis did not return calls from Fairfax Media.

- The Stawell Times News