SA narrowly avoids ‘Nincompoop democrazy capital of the world’ mantle in election count
Questions grow over SA election casual staff, slow polling booth openings, a commissioner on leave and random votes discovered long after counting, Mike Smithson says.
The dust has finally settled on the Narungga election result, but the long-term mud is likely to stick to the SA Electoral Commission.
In what universe does one of the state’s highest offices of integrity leave behind boxes of unaccounted votes in a dusty office for three weeks?
I’m glad One Nation MP Chantelle Thomas has won the seat after that lost batch was finally tallied and increased her margin over Liberal Tania Stock to 74.
Had the result changed, after the winner had been declared by ECSA, South Australia would have rightly been labelled the ‘nincompoop democrazy capital of the world’.
The Liberals are still casting other doubts over the propriety of the 2026 election and rightly so, why wouldn’t they?
They’ll grasp at anything that they can.
Despite myriad problems, the Libs were still punished badly, Labor handsomely rewarded with a record victory and One Nation landing the title of a legitimate political force.
It stems back to a surprise announcement last Thursday that ECSA had “identified a number of unopened absent ordinary ballot papers and declaration ballot papers that were returned from the district of Stuart.”
In essence, they included voters passing through the northern national gateway of Stuart during the campaign or on election day, who were casting their vote for another electorate in which they were enrolled.
There’s nothing new or strange in this practice, especially considering the vastness of Stuart where people, especially grey nomads, stop to cast their vote on their way to all points of the compass.
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The electoral commission must have been aware that 642 votes from three sealed boxes hadn’t been accounted for long before declaring the winners.
These names had presumably been ticked off an electoral roll but hadn’t been reconciled in the results.
Of the hundreds of wayward ballot papers, 81 were missing from the key swinging seat of Narungga.
One assumes these boxes were stowed away with no one in authority giving two hoots about the urgency of transporting them to head office.
It was then left to Acting ECSA Commissioner Leah McLay to clumsily and nervously explain the reasons for the bungle, which only sounded worse each time she opened her mouth.
In the official media release last Thursday, she tried to calm the farm by explaining that all candidates in Narungga had been advised in advance of the need to count further votes, despite the election result already set in stone.
Adding to the confusion her media statement at 10.22am, where she had given the assurance, was then disputed almost half an hour later on ABC radio by the losing Liberal candidate saying she’d had no such communication.
Ms McLay was asked why the high profile, public relations-focussed commissioner Mick Sherry was not fronting the media to explain such a bombshell balls-up.
She stated that he was on leave and refused to make any further comment about his untimely absence.
I would have been asking: when did he start that leave and was he asked to return to address the media last week?
There are so many aspects of probity, or lack of, surrounding this state election which do not add up.
By that afternoon, the government was ringing around to express off-the-record fury towards the process.
It will welcome an independent review into ECSA’s handling of the debacle and, in my view, it’s hard to see the eventual finding won’t result in heads rolling or officials falling on their swords.
The reputational damage will flow through to the 2030 state election with all eyes on what has been learned to ensure the same mistakes aren’t repeated.
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What seems clear already is the haphazard employment of suitable casual staff to operate polling booths on election day.
Technology didn’t appear to be the friend of those who did turn up for their call of duty.
At my local booth, I was in the line-up just after the 8am opening.
Normally it’s smooth passage through the process and out the other side within 10 minutes maximum.
This time only one person was checking names off the electronic roll, and the frustrating log-on process was only established within a few minutes of the doors opening.
By the time I reached the front of the queue the staff member told me it would be tempting to walk away and not come back.
Given that some casual ECSA staff have reported they haven’t yet been paid for their services, there’s a fair chance many won’t return for subsequent elections.
Reports also abounded on election day of booths not opening at the required time and voters told to come back later once the technical glitches had been resolved.
Some voters were on their way to work on that Saturday morning and unable to return later.
The commissioner stated on radio on the following Monday that many casual staff had pulled out of their duties with less than 24 hours’ notice, leaving ECSA scrambling to plug the gaps.
These reasons may all favour the commission when the independent review is completed, but they don’t answer the core questions.
Was the recruitment of casual staff done in accordance with past practices or did they simply grab the first people to enlist without checking their suitability?
Was their sufficient training and were there language difficulties with staff at some polling booths?
Did ECSA stress-test its systems and technology before the booths opened because, if so, many of the obvious problems should have been identified?
The government says the election budget was never a problem, claiming the commission was given whatever sum it required or requested to conduct the election with impunity.
Most organisations don’t have the luxury of four years of planning to get it right with the ample budget provided.
ECSA’s original media release didn’t carry any form of public apology.
My advice to Mr Sherry, Ms McLay and others, in the plush surrounds of Light Square, is to get their acts together.
This process has now been tainted, and you must all carry the responsibility.
But given the totality of the problem, I doubt whether some of the existing faces will be around in 2030 anyway.
Mike Smithson is weekend presenter and political analyst for 7News.
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