FRAUD RAISED IN DISPUTED FREO ELECTIONS

ELECTORAL fraud and false signatures overshadowed proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court today when parties presented disputed evidence in the bungled 2023 local government elections in Fremantle.
After a day hearing from WA Electoral Commission witnesses, State solicitors turned their attention in the last hour of proceedings to witness statements tendered by Greater Fremantle Community & Business Association and former south ward councillor Marija Vujcic.
But it backfired when they got to retired school teacher Helen Cox who voted correctly in central ward in the second WAEC mail out after she received incorrect ballot papers for coastal ward.
The State solicitor drew attention to what he said were ballot declaration slips signed when Ms Cox voted in coastal, not central ward.
But Ms Cox showed the court photographs of the two incorrect coastal ward ballot papers and two declaration envelopes she received both times from WAEC. She never voted in coastal.
Ms Cox said the signature and handwriting on the slip she received in the first mail out were forged. The document has central ward crossed out and underneath coastal ward. She said though it looked like her signature, it was copied, and the writing was not hers.
The court was reluctant to go down the rabbit hole given the seriousness of the evidence and its implications but it left serious concerns in the minds of those in court whether ballot papers were tampered with in central and coastal wards.
Earlier in the day, Counsel for the Association said WAEC should have rerun the election but instead decided to ‘fudge it’.
WAEC director election operations Shani Wood acknowledged the error occurred after wrong codes were entered for each ward: “The two codes had been swapped around.”
She said a crisis meeting was convened once WAEC was alerted to the error and decided to mail out new ballot papers to the 12,000 electors caught up in the bungled code ‘co-transposition’, including Ms Cox and several of the witnesses called to give evidence today.
When asked whether the team considered cancelling the Fremantle elections, Ms Wood said no. She said it was never raised, then added: “Yes, it would have been.”
But she said the team believed it had identified the problem and arrived at a solution within 24 hours to send new ballots to disenfranchised voters and update its website alerting the public to the error.
When asked by counsel for Ms Vujcic whether the team considered placing advertisements in local papers including The West Australian, Ms Wood said no.
She said the WA Electoral Commissioner appeared on 6PR to explain what happened. However, this was not part of the crisis management strategy as it was the radio station that contacted WAEC after complaints from voters including Ms Cox.
Coastal ward councillor Jemima Williamson-Wong attended court representing herself.
The hearing continues tomorrow. Additional stories on the bungled elections at the StreetWise website.