Second stash of uncounted votes unearthed in SA
The Electoral Commission of SA has confirmed two more electorates – this time Labor strongholds – had a stash of uncounted votes from the March state election.
Ballot papers in the seats of Enfield and Newland that went uncounted were discovered today, but the Acting SA Electoral Commissioner said it would not have affected the results of March’s state election.
Acting SA Electoral Commissioner Leah McLay apologised for the “failures” of the organisation tasked with running the state’s election and said investigations were underway.
“The issues we have experienced fall well short of our expectations – and those of the community,” McLay said.
“I apologise to the voters and candidates for the inconvenience and confusion that was caused and to staff who experienced issues working for ECSA.
“I want to assure everyone that action is being taken to prevent these issues happening again.”
McLay has ordered an internal investigation into what went wrong and said it would be provided with “everything it needs to ensure that no stone is left unturned and public confidence in the commission is upheld”.
It comes after the commission was forced to conduct a further count last week after uncounted votes in the nail-biting seat of Narungga were discovered in the seat where One Nation candidate Chantelle Thomas won by a razor-thin 58 votes over the Liberal’s candidate Tania Stock.
After counting the 81 discovered votes, Thomas held the seat but raised concerns about the “integrity” of SA elections.
The new ballots discovered today were for the safe Labor seats of Newland, retained by Olivia Savvas, and Enfield, formerly held by Andrea Michaels and won by Lawrence Ben – Malinauskas’ former economic adviser and son-in-law of federal Labor Trade Minister Don Farrell.
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Concerns have been raised from all sides of politics about the missed ballots. Deputy Premier Kyam Maher last week committed to an independent review of the Electoral Commission’s processes.
Deputy Liberal Leader Josh Teague this morning said there were concerns about the election process and that the Opposition supported an independent review.
“It’s not the first time in these few weeks now, since the election, that additional votes are being found,” he said.
“We want to know exactly how that’s occurred and why so that we can ensure that the highest level of confidence that South Australians are entitled to have in their state election process can be upheld and maintained in the future, public trust in the democratic system.”
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