Voter text to candidate, Twitter, 2 July 2016
Data shows that 18.94% of those eligible to vote in Cowper didn’t cast a ballot according to the Australian Electoral Commission on 5 July 2016.
ABC
News, 4 July
2016:
Complaints are growing
in Western Australia's north about late changes and limited polling options,
which left hundreds of people unable to cast a vote in the federal election.
Shire of Halls Creek CEO
Rodger Kerr-Newell said dozens of tourists were turned away from the town's
polling station on Saturday.
"There were issues
... there was not interstate voting," Mr Kerr-Newell said.
"Halls Creek has a
very large population of tourists at this time of year and they were denied the
opportunity to vote."
According to Mr
Kerr-Newell, several tourists came to the shire to complain….
Complaints have also
surfaced from several Aboriginal communities in the Pilbara and Kimberley.
WA
Today, 6 July
2016:
Callers to Radio 6PR's
Breakfast rumour file said on Tuesday several polling places across WA ran
out of ballot papers on election day, leaving many with no opportunity to vote.
Polling stations near
Caversham, in the electorate of Hasluck, were said to have
combined leaving a shortfall of ballot papers come the afternoon…..
In the electorate of
Pearce, it was claimed the only polling station
in Aveley and Bullsbrook ran out of ballot papers, as did the
only two available in Quinns Rock…..
There is also trouble
brewing in the knife-edge Perth seat of Cowan, with Sky News reporting that up
to 150 votes were not properly signed off by an AEC officer, potentially
rendering them void.
ABC
News, 7 July
2016:
The Australian Electoral
Commission (AEC) and the voting system have come under intense scrutiny as
reports of ballot issues in several seats continue to emerge.
Four states have been
affected by mishaps, including shortages and incorrect distribution of ballot
papers.
Many people have claimed
they were unable to vote on July 2 and some votes have even been ruled informal
due to AEC errors…..
In the electorate of Pearce, 105 voters were given
Victorian Senate ballot papers, meaning their votes have now been deemed
informal.
The blunder happened
under the supervision of an early polling mobile ballot team which visited
various health and aged care establishments across the region….
Queensland senator Glenn
Lazarus, who has not been returned, said many Queensland voters had contacted
him to complain they were unable to vote due to polling booths running out of
ballot papers.
The Glenn Lazarus team
is compiling information from those around the country who were unable to vote
which will then be lodged with the AEC as a bulk complaint.
Mr Lazarus has created
an online form for people to complete which has been shared more than 600 times
on Facebook.
"According to many
people they were told by AEC staff to check their name off the electoral roll
so they could be excused from voting to avoid a fine because the polling booth
had run out of ballot papers," Mr Lazarus said…..
The AEC said it was
investigating reports of wrong ballot papers being handed out in the electorate
of Higgins.
For the first six
minutes of voting at a South Yarra polling station, voters were given ballot
papers for a neighbouring seat.
ABC political analyst
Barrie Cassidy said an ABC staff member was one of several people who received
the wrong paper.
"He went back and
said, 'It's not the right paper'," Cassidy said.
"They got the
supervisor. They noticed other such ballot papers had been torn off."…..
Independent candidate
Rob Oakeshott and Greens candidate Carol Vernon, who both ran for the seat of
Cowper, have lodged an official complaint with the AEC claiming the
neighbouring seat ran out of Cowper absentee ballot papers.
Those who voted in the
electorate of Lyne were reportedly told they would be signed off the electoral
roll but would not be able to cast a ballot.
"People turned out
to vote and didn't have the chance to have their say, and it's their right to
do so," Mr Oakeshott told the Coffs Coast Advocate.
He said it was unclear
how many people were unable to vote but he urged the AEC to clarify the issue.
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
7 July 2016:
Fresh
voting controversy has hit Western Australia after residents
at a nursing home in the Pearce electorate were counted as informal
voters after being given Victorian ballot papers by mistake.
The Australian Electoral
Commission confirmed a mobile voting unit gave the 105 residents the Victorian
senate papers on Thursday.
"The Senate is a
statewide vote, and I can't speculate on what the impact might be, except to
say that together with 47,000 votes already deemed informal [in WA] those
105 are also informal and will play no further part in the determination of the
election result," the commission's state manager Marie Neilson told
News Talk 6PR on Thursday.
ABC News, 8 July 2016:
On election day, Defence
said just under 1,300 ADF members voted at the special polling stations in the
exercise area, but that the Army had to truck another 1,400 or so to civilian
booths in places such as Port Augusta.
Defence said AEC staff
and volunteers stayed back for up to three hours - until 9pm - to process the
huge lines.
But it still was not
enough.
In a statement Defence
said: "628 Army members did not cast their votes. Of this number, 543 are
from the 1st Brigade."
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