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Questions remain over poll chaos

10/12/2022

7 Comments

 
Picture
Voters waited two hours and more to vote at the Corinella Hall. Photo: Geoff Ellis
By Catherine Watson
 
WITH counting in the Bass election having finally concluded, questions remain over unprecedented chaos at local voting centres and a multitude of voting irregularities on election day.
 
The Post believes at least eight voting centres in the Bass electorate – Newhaven, Dalyston, Kilcunda, Corinella, Grantville, Bass, Bayles and Catani – ran out of ballot papers. Other voting centres, including Lang Lang, Tooradin and Corinella, were severely under-staffed with voters queuing for up to two hours to vote.
 
Voting centre staff hand wrote ballot papers, some voters waived their voting right and others simply gave up after several failed attempts to vote.
PictureWould-be voters were advised to take a photo of centre manager's details so
they could contest VEC fines for not voting.
There was a 21 per cent increase in the proportion of non-voters (equating to around 1143 voters) in the Bass electorate, though it’s difficult to say how much of the increase was due to difficulties in voting.
 
The Victorian Electoral Commission would not confirm which centres were affected or why the VEC so badly underestimated the number of voters at Bass voting centres.
 
Cynthia O’Meara tried twice to vote at Corinella before giving up. “Voting is important to me. I’ve got a young family. There are issues I’m passionate about. I feel the results aren’t really a proper indication because not everyone had a say.”
 
Libby Skidmore described the scene at the Corinella voting centre as chaotic with only one poll clerk and the centre running out of ballot papers mid-afternoon. “Surely they know there are more than 800 people living in the area and how many they should be catering for. At the very least you would expect them to have enough voting papers.”

Zena Benbow, a scrutineer at the Grantville voting centre, said in her 27 years of volunteering on polling booths for federal and state elections, she had never seen anything close to what happened on election day.
 
Grantville staff were handwriting blank ballot papers. VEC staff informed waiting voters they could travel to the Bass voting centre which had just received an additional 100 ballot papers; they could return at 5.30pm, when new ballot papers were expected from Wonthaggi; or they could waive their right to a vote but be registered as having turned up.

​A supply of ballot papers arrived at Grantville at 5.20pm and voting resumed at 5.25pm. “Those who said they’d return at 5.30pm did in fact return,” Zena said.

 
Baden Johnson, who was handing out at Grantville, said that when the ballot papers ran out staff were sending people to Bass to vote but then Bass ran out. “And there were very long queues at Lang Lang so those people were coming to Grantville to vote only to find they couldn’t.  ​
“Some people were genuinely upset. ‘This isn’t democracy!’ Others just didn’t want to be fined for not voting.”
 
There was a long queue outside the Corinella voting centre when Libby Skidmore first arrived in the morning so she decided to come back later. She returned at 3pm and found the queue stretching down to the intersection.
 
Ms Skidmore, who has worked as a poll clerk at Corinella in the past, said there was only one poll clerk on duty. “They always had three or four in the past. And then they announced there were no ballot papers and they had to get them from somewhere else.
 
“It was totally chaotic. People were generally supportive of the staff – it wasn’t their fault – but people were getting impatient.”

​When voters asked if they could at least be marked off the roll, they were told this was not possible and they could be fined if they didn’t vote. Some voters left to vote at Grantville or Bass but those at Corinella later heard the other voting centres had also run out of ballot papers.
 
Ms Skidmore was finally able to vote at 5.10pm. She said staff told voters the booth would stay open until everyone had a chance to vote.
​The VEC responds
The communication manager for the Victorian Electoral Commission, Marie Guerin, said:
“We are aware of a limited number of voting centres that ran low or out of printed district ballot papers on election day in some regional and metropolitan Melbourne districts, including Bass District,” she said.
  "Replacement ballot papers were provided to each voting centre. In the interim, voters waiting to vote were:
  • provided the opportunity to vote at a neighbouring voting centre
  • invited to wait for replacement ballot papers or return later in the day
  • provided with blank ballot papers with candidates’ names handwritten by election officials – this is an acceptable approach in this situation and is permitted by legislation.
  “In a couple of voting centres, a very small number of voters opted to complete an information report as a record of attending the site to ensure they were not fined for failing to vote.
  “No voting centres were closed before 6pm, and anyone still in the queue at 6pm was provided the opportunity to vote.”
Like Libby, Cynthia O’Meara and her husband first tried to vote at the Corinella Hall at about 9am but gave up when they saw a long queue. After a day out with their young children, they tried again in the afternoon.
 
“I walked up to the Corinella Hall about 3.30 or 4pm. I was in the queue when someone came and told us there were no ballot papers left. I heard it was widespread. They said Bass had none.  They said they’d ordered more and they’d left Wonthaggi an hour ago.
 
“We were told we would get a fine if we didn’t vote. They had a piece of paper with the voting manager’s details and told us to take a photo so when they send the notice we could refer them to this.” With two young children, she left after about 45 minutes. She is disappointed that she did not get to vote.
 
It wasn’t just Bass voters who had a hard time of it. Election workers also copped it. One local worker, who did not wish to be named, described the chaos from the inside, with casual staff completing blank ballot forms by hand while waiting for deliveries of ballot papers.
 
Election day for her was a 15-hour marathon with two 15-minute breaks, dealing with angry and confused people, topped off by offensive messages left by informal voters on ballot papers. She staggered out of the hall just before midnight.
 
“Never again!” she said. “And I’m postal voting from now on.”
7 Comments
Pete Bogg
10/12/2022 10:30:53 am

I wonder if such a such an elaborate analysis of the shortcomings of election day if Brown had won. Shades of Trump's "I was robbed" I think.

Reply
Catherine Watson
10/12/2022 02:21:25 pm

I haven't heard anyone suggest it changed the result, Peter. But I think we need an explanation for such a stuff-up. No one can recall it happening in Bass before.

Reply
Joy Button
10/12/2022 11:13:58 am

I am in my 70's and do not recall ever reading of such chaos in any election, be it local, state or federal. I cannot help but wonder if the election in the seat of Bass allowed all voters to lodge a vote. With such a narrow win, it will be interesting to see what follows next.

Reply
Zoe
10/12/2022 12:09:09 pm

Inverloch also ran out of ballot papers near the end of the day.

Reply
Michele
10/12/2022 02:06:19 pm

I attended the Grantville polling booth and was near the front of the queue at around 4:30pm. At that point we were told that they only had enough voting papers for the few that were just ahead of us and no other options nearby as they either had long queues or were also almost out of forms. We filled out unable to vote forms, which also ran out quickly, and then had to write our details on paper to avoid a fine. There were a number of people behind us in the queue that also had to do this and I have since heard that it happened to a number of polling booths in the area. This is just not good enough! How could they get it so wrong - surely VEC have a good idea of how many people are registered to vote in the area!

Reply
Elizabeth Banks
10/12/2022 05:06:10 pm

My understanding is that workers had the virus and could not work. This did happen at Lang Lang.
We had 2 weeks to vote and those who came at 5 .58 were allowed to vote. . Voting on white paper is legal.
I handed out for Jordan at Lang Lang and heard very rude remarks made to the staff.
Many people waited for an hour and voted but some looked at the line and left !!
I have had to wait at the MCG for and hour to get into the football never heard any moans.
Yes voting is very important but the rudeness is unexceptable.
The staff at Lang Lang were still counting when I left at 10.30 and had many hours ahead of them.

Reply
Austin
10/12/2022 10:02:25 pm

I was handing out how to vote flyers in Koo Wee Rup from about 3pm on election day and can confirm they too ran out around 4pm.

So many voters were upset because they had no opportunity to vote early with the closest Bass voting centre over 30 minutes away in Wonthaggi.

I think the VEC also needs to reassess the allocation of early voting centres. I think over half of the voters in Bass live north of Grantville but didn't have a local early vote centre.

Lots of lessons for next election. Both for me as a candidate and for the VEC too.

Reply



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