One Nation\u2019s claim to the seat of Narungga has hit a snag weeks after the South Australian election.<\/p>\n
Uncounted ballot papers were discovered on Thursday, forcing a recount in the Yorke Peninsula seat, which One Nation\u2019s Chantelle Thomas won by just 58 votes.<\/p>\n
More than 80 unopened papers have turned up, the state electoral commission has confirmed, offering a sliver of hope to the defeated Liberal candidate, Tania Stock.<\/p>\n
The commission had already done a recount on the knife-edge seat.<\/p>\n
Every candidate has now been notified a further count will be held on Friday, \u201cto ensure the integrity of the Narungga result\u201d, it said.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n More than 600 uncounted ballots were in three sealed boxes returned to the commission, including 81 for Narungga.<\/p>\n \u201cThe result has already been declared,\u201d deputy electoral commissioner Leah McLay said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe purpose of the count is for the commission to determine whether the result would have differed had those ballots been included in the initial count and the subsequent recount.\u201d<\/p>\n The Labor government, under the premier, Peter Malinauskas, won the 21 March election in a landslide, but Pauline Hanson\u2019s party outperformed the Liberal party in what was widely seen as the first real-life test of its polling surge.<\/p>\n Deputy premier and special minister of state, Kyam Maher, said on top of the commission\u2019s usual election review, the government would have an independent review of the election and voters\u2019 experiences. There have been other issues around the election including delays, understaffing, and the handling of the First Nations voice to parliament vote<\/a>.<\/p>\n He said 81 \u201csealed and unopened\u201d votes had been found at a Port Pirie early voting centre, in the neighbouring seat of Stuart.<\/p>\n \u201cElections are incredibly complex things to undertake. There are thousands of employees, hundreds of polling booths, over a million votes to count,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are fortunate in Australia and in SA in particular we have fair and free elections, and in SA we jealously guard how we undertake democracy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is disappointing, though, when we see things go not exactly as they should.\u201d<\/p>\n He said there was no suggestion of interference or tampering.<\/p>\n The commission is expected to seek legal advice and petition the court of disputed returns if the new count changes the election result.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have not investigated what the cause of the error was,\u201d McLay said.<\/p>\n McLay said the SA electoral commission would support any independent external review into the 2026 state election.<\/p>\n Thomas was declared the winner of Narungga earlier in April over the Liberal party\u2019s Stock after a recount due to the tight voting margin.<\/p>\n It gave One Nation four lower house seats, as well as three upper house seats.<\/p>\n