WAEC FOI ELECTION FIGURES DO NOT ADD UP

WAEC has further muddied the electoral waters following a Freedom of Information request for the number of blank ballots the City of Fremantle used in the 2021 and disputed 2023 local government elections.
Hundreds of spare ballots were used by the City in 2021 and four new wards in 2023 including disputed central and coastal (www.streetwisemedia.com.au/election-extras-blanks-overs-but-is-it-cricket/).
FOI documents released last week (above) show the City used 158 ‘replacement election packages’ out of 400 WAEC allocated to Fremantle in 2023. As the WAEC table shows, 84 replacement packages were used by the City in coastal ward; 26 in central; 30 in north; and 18 in east.
More than 12,000 voters in central and coastal wards received incorrect ballot papers in 2023, now at the centre of court proceedings to have the election result declared invalid.
The balance of power in coastal fell to Labor-backed Cr Jemima Williamson-Wong who defeated former South Ward councillor Marija Vujcic by 71 first-preference votes (Wong 955/Vujcic 884).
StreetWise contends WAEC has not complied with its FOI obligations and request for internal review and will apply for external review by the WA Office of the Information Commissioner.
WAEC’s FOI officer initially denied StreetWise access to the documents because, “issues surrounding the Fremantle local government elections are now before the Court of Disputed Returns”. The next court appearance by the parties including WAEC, Wong and Vujcic is scheduled in August.
The reasons for external review will include contradictions in WAEC’s definition and number of blank ballots the City used in 2021 and 2023.
WAEC Media has said blanks are, “replacement declaration envelopes with a barcode and a number printed on them that are unique to each local government. They are used when electors request them because they lost them or did not receive one. The original barcode number allocated to the elector is cancelled and the new barcode number on the replacement declaration is allocated to that elector”.
It said in the 2021 mayoral election, WAEC produced 350 blank declaration envelopes of which 341 were issued as replacements across all wards. In 2023, it said 300 envelopes (not 400 shown in the table above) were produced and 158 issued across all four new wards.
Overs it said are, “additional election packages that do not include the declaration envelope. WAEC staff can use ‘overs’ as replacement packages for electors who may have lost or say they have not received their election package. They can also be used for a provisional vote where someone claims an entitlement to enrolment but cannot be located on the electoral roll”.
In 2021, it said WAEC produced 350 overs, 50 each for four wards and 75 each for two wards, as shown in the table published by StreetWise on June 15.
On July 5, WAEC deputy electoral commissioner Courtney Barron told StreetWise following the internal review: “Replacement election packages are ‘blanks’ and ‘overs’ combined.”
She said a replacement package consists of local government elector declaration envelopes (coded) that have no elector name or election information printed on them and a reply paid envelope, how-to-vote brochure and ballot paper, together referred to as ‘overs’ (uncoded). Ms Barron provided no figures for provisional votes which are included in WAEC’s post-election reports. In fact, the 2021 report records 363 replacement votes and 16 provisional votes.
Ms Barron could not explain how WAEC distinguished between blanks and overs when WAEC’s published post-election reports not disclosed by Ms Barron lists them separately as the table here shows.
When asked for documents identifying voters issued with spares, Ms Barron said, “the personal information of electors is not released by the WAEC in order to ensure the integrity of the electoral process”.
Figures produced but the WAEC team and Ms Barron do not match. For example, WAEC documents cited by StreetWise show it printed 300 spares in 2021 (not 350 or 400), of which the City used 299, the highest of any council in WA, and all in just one of its then six wards (east).
When asked how many overs were used in 2021, WAEC in a follow-up email said 357, or seven more than in the table it provided.
Someone at WAEC cannot add up.
The external review is expected to shed light on the correct figures.