South Australia’s Attorney-General has indicated the number of newly revealed uncounted votes from the March state election is in the “order of dozens”, as further accounts of staffing problems on the eve of the poll emerge.
The commission confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that another batch of uncounted votes had been discovered — days after it said it had found more than 600 uncounted ballot papers from a pre-poll booth in Port Pirie.
A blunder in Narungga leaves SA’s electoral authority in damage control
The uncounted votes are among a litany of problems arising from the election, with other difficulties including understaffing and delayed payment to electoral workers.
Cassie Magin-Paul said she had applied early to be an election staffer but was not contacted about a role until 6pm on March 20 — the night before polling day.
She was asked to work as booth manager at Royal Park, in the electorate of Lee.
“When I said yes, the woman on the phone burst into tears, she was so relieved,” Ms Magin-Paul told the ABC.
She arrived at the booth less than 12 hours later and, having done no training, received directions over the phone from ECSA staff.
Voters were sent to other polling places until the booth was opened mid-morning, and Ms Magin-Paul — who had worked at previous elections — said she was surprised at the mismanagement of the lead-up.
“This one was an anomaly,” she said.
“Why were they so underprepared?”
She said that, after following up with ECSA, she was finally paid for her work last Friday, nearly a month after election day, which happened to fall on her birthday.
“I gave up my birthday and then I didn’t get paid for four weeks,” she said.
SA Attorney-General and Special Minister of State Kyam Maher says the number of newly discovered votes is in the “order of dozens”. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
The discovery of uncounted votes at Port Pirie, which only occurred after the seat of Narungga had been declared for One Nation candidate Chantelle Thomas, prompted another count which confirmed that result.
The extra votes revealed yesterday were from the electorates of Enfield and Newland, ECSA said — but its statement on the matter did not reveal key details.
While it said the “small number of ballots” would not have affected “any House of Assembly seat”, it did not say when, where and how many had been found, how they had been overlooked, and whether they were postal or absentee votes.
The state government has committed to an independent review of the election to be conducted at “arm’s length” from ECSA.
Attorney-General Kyam Maher — who is also the Special Minister of State, the portfolio responsible for the Electoral Commission — said that, regarding the newly discovered votes, he had not been told “much more than what’s in the public arena”.
“Yesterday the Electoral Commission let us know that there’d been a further discovery of a small number — I understand it’s in the order of dozens of votes in the electorates of Enfield and Newland,” he told 891 ABC Adelaide.
“I will expect and I think the public will expect to know more about exactly what’s happened. I’ve got to say I share a lot of the disappointment, frustration that … many voters will have shared.
“We’ve asked for more information and I’ve very strongly suggested they might want to triple-check everything.”
‘Elections rely on trust’
Election analyst Antony Green said the statement from ECSA raised many unanswered questions and was “very short on facts”.
“It’s in the past tense — so these ballots were found after the close of declarations but before today, so I don’t think they’ve found them today,” he told the Drive program on Tuesday afternoon.
“It doesn’t say what the votes were — were they ordinary votes, were they absent votes, were they postals? What were the votes? And they don’t say how many there were — and they’re saying ‘from’ Enfield and Newland but were they ‘for’ Enfield or Newland?
“Elections rely on trust, and so I’m always very cautious before I say … the Electoral Commission has got something wrong, but the fact that this stuff comes out in dribs and drabs doesn’t look good.”
An Electoral Commission of South Australia official counts votes for the electorate of Narungga on Friday. (ABC News: Ben Pettitt)
ECSA said the votes were for both the lower and upper houses, and that while the latter would be “included in the Legislative Council count, which is due to be finalised on 1 May”.
“There will be a thorough investigation — both internally and independently — of what led to the problems we’ve experienced,” Acting Electoral Commissioner Leah McLay said in the ECSA statement.
“In my role as Acting Commissioner I have ordered internal investigations into what went wrong and the operational systems that must be improved.
“I will ensure that the expected independent external review receives everything it needs to ensure that no stone is left unturned and public confidence in the Commission is upheld.”
Acting South Australian Electoral Commissioner Leah McLay says the commission supports the independent review. (ABC News: Ben Pettitt)
Liberal Deputy Leader Josh Teague said the opposition supported the independent review, and was committed to bipartisanship over the matter.
“Confidence — and the maintaining of it — is key, and to have information just sort of dribbling out … about the count is really corrosive,” he said.
MP’s two ballots for SA upper house among electoral problems under scrutiny
Mr Teague said there were multiple problems on polling day including a “failure to open booths”, and he questioned the decision to hold the First Nations Voice to Parliament vote on the same day as the state election.
Mr Maher said the impact of the decision to allow counting of pre-poll votes on election day — which occurred for the first time — would be part of the independent review.
It was previously revealed that ECSA was slow to pay staff, with one election day worker saying he did not receive key paperwork until a week-and-a-half after election day.
“I’ve seen a lot of Facebook posts about people complaining about there being staff shortages, and I wonder how many temporary staff didn’t rock up because they never got a letter of offer,” the staffer told the ABC earlier this month.
Mr Maher today acknowledged there had been significant challenges around staffing and staff training.
“The level of people who didn’t turn up, who were absent from the day who did receive the training — and then having to get people in at the last minute — are concerns that have also been raised,” he said.
“I’m not sure why people didn’t turn up, that’s just what people are saying — so I think we want that tested as well.”