The integrity of the vote in care facilities must be protected
The unprecedented explosion in informal votes cast in hospitals, aged care centres, residential mental health facilities and homes for the disabled around the nation is perplexing.
The Herald' s senior economics correspondent, Shane Wright, says while the number of votes declared informal at the May 3 election increased slightly, the outcome in at least one close electorate hinges on the unusually large number of rejected ballots.
In the Sydney seat of Bradfield, the result will now go to a formal recount after Liberal Gisele Kapterian finished just eight votes ahead of teal independent Nicolette Boele. Checking for informal votes, the Australian Electoral Commission's three 'special hospital teams' found a total of 107 informal votes, increases of 18.6 per cent, 7.4 per cent and 9 per cent, over the 2019 Bradfield result.
The sitting Liberal, Julian Leeser, retained his NSW seat of Berowra, but the informal rate among the 250 ballots collected by the AEC teams climbed by 64.5 per cent to almost 70 per cent.
Including Bradfield, Berowra and Cowper in NSW, 19 seats around Australia were won by slim margins. In Victoria, teal independent Zoe Daniel will seek a full recount of votes in Goldstein after a full distribution of preferences concluded on Saturday that left the Liberal Party's Tim Wilson in front by 260 votes.
The impact of the informal vote in care facilities in Goldstein is unclear, but other parts of Australia have certainly been impacted. The AEC found a 54 per cent informal rate in one team in Tasmania's Lyons, 46.7 per cent and 37.2 per cent in two teams in Riverina in southern NSW (where voters had to choose between 13 House of Representatives candidates), 45.8 per cent and 33 per cent in the Sydney electorate of Watson and 38.3 per cent in one team in Anthony Albanese's seat of Grayndler.
High informal rates are often associated with large populations of voters from non-English-speaking backgrounds, poorer or less educated voters or in seats where there are numerous candidates. But the findings of special hospital teams are historically around or just above the normal informal rate, and now the AEC will examine the unusual rise of informal votes at care facilities.
Nationals' MP Darren Chester, who sat on the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, said voters had raised concerns about possible pressure put on people who may be suffering from dementia to vote. 'The large increase in informal votes collected in special hospital teams is clearly an issue that JSCEM needs to look closely at,' he said.
The number of informal votes cast at federal elections has waxed and waned since the 1970s. Disenchantment with compulsory voting, major political parties or politics are generally blamed. On May 3, the informal vote nationally increased by just 0.4 per cent to 5.6 per cent but soared in care facilities. As Bradfield may prove, a way has to be found to ensure the democratic rights of residents and patients and that the integrity of their votes is respected and protected.
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