On Friday afternoon, preferences will be allocated after the byelection and, if it goes the way we expect, Joe McGirr will become an independent Member for Wagga.

Even before Wagga voters had put pencil to ballot paper, there was a huge amount of coverage about the likely outcome.

Everyone who can get something out of throwing some mud at their political opponents has been using the byelection result as fresh ammunition, and a host of commentators from across the national have also weighed in on it.

But before I give you my two penn’orth on that one, I want to point out what went right with this byelection.

I reckon we need to acknowledge that we had seven people – from diverse political backgrounds and experiences – who were willing to put their hands up to to run in this byelection in a bid to represent voters in State Parliament.

Having watched the campaign closely, I can best describe it as gruelling, yet those seven people remained committed and engaged, heading out day after day to talk to people in the electorate.

When you spoke to any one of them, they were well aware of exactly what the issues in the community were and seemed very genuine in their desire to work for the electorate.

Each of them was hearing largely the same things by voter after voter: Health, education, roads, aged care, cost of living …the issues that were affecting people’s everyday lives.

Yet, even as their candidates were hearing these issues, the game that is party politics was taking the action off in another direction.

The gulf between organised party politics and ordinary voters has never seemed wider.

The national commentary has thrown the blame for a Liberal defeat at all sorts of federal issues, and I reckon they certainly played their part, but this chatter overlooks a raft of pivotal local concerns.

The most obvious is that Daryl Maguire, who had held the seat for 19 years, had to resign in disgrace.

Voters were angry about this, and that anger was likely ratcheted up by the fact that Mr Maguire didn’t initially quit as an MP, but was planning a move to the cross bench.

What looked awful to begin with just felt even worse until he eventually quit.

The Coalition partners then got into a squabble over whether both parties – or just the Liberals – should run a candidate, and even after Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced it was over, members of The Nationals were refusing to agree.

Then we had a conga line of heavyweights – both Liberal and Labor – visiting the seat to make a host of promises as the campaign continued.

It not only felt like Wagga voters were being offered sweeteners to vote in a particular way, it also had the effect of overshadowing the candidates.

But the one thing that seems to have been overlooked in this campaign is the role of the candidates, or more particularly the candidates who weren’t from one of the major parties.

Dr McGirr, for example, was a genuinely popular contender whose decision to run as an independent clearly appealed to voters fed up with party politics.

A great deal has been made – and fair enough – of the swing against the Liberal party.

But it is worth noting that the primary votes of both Labor and The Greens was down too.

Independent Paul Funnell took 10 per cent of the primary vote, which was about the same as the vote that went to the Shooters Fishers and Farmers.

As Shooters’ candidate Seb McDonagh has said, the party had never run in the seat of Wagga before, so they didn’t really know what kind of a reception to expect from voters.

The reception the independents and minor parties got suggests that voters are rethinking politics in a big way.

Is it just me, or are we starting to see a real grassroots push for enormous change in politics?

Could it be that it is no longer going to be a battle just between the people on the left and the people on the right, but a real search by voters for candidates who are genuinely only interested in what’s best for their communities?

I think the real lesson from this byelection is that voters want to come first with the politicians elected to fight for their interests.

jody.lindbeck@fairfaxmedia.com.au