Chris Oldfield, Naracoorte Community News
Lucindale’s Pauline and Ivan Hocking were eager to fill in their ballot papers as soon as they arrived on October 20, and post them back to Adelaide.
Living on a farm 35 km south of the town, their mail is delivered to a mailbox on the roadside just three days a week. It can take a week or more for a letter to arrive to them from Adelaide, and vice versa.
So they opened their envelopes from the Electoral Commission SA, with voting the first thing on their ‘to do’ list, and like many others, were set to vote.
Mr and Mrs Hocking read their instructions and went through the various sheets of paper with pens in hand. But Mrs Hocking’s voting slip for a mayoral candidate was missing.
She shook her envelope and peered into it several times, but nothing. She shuffled through the various other papers several times, but there was still no voting slip for mayor.
Prior to that she had heard the same thing happening to others, so she rang mayoral candidate Patrick Ross and The News.
Patrick Ross had also heard of others, and rang the Electoral Commission. He gave them phone numbers of the concerned people he had heard from.
Lucindale council candidate Trevor Rayner had received calls from concerned voters as well, including two elderly people – one had no mayoral ballot paper, and the other had no voting slip for council area candidates.
“They had been told to go to the commission’s website – these people are elderly, don’t own a computer and wouldn’t know how to switch one on,” Cr Rayner said.
He said he contacted both the commission and mayoral candidate Patrick Ross.
Meanwhile, The News also contacted the Electoral Commission on October 20. Journalists these days who contact government departments or agencies are always directed to media units, media managers or Public Relations Companies.
The News asked: How many people are affected? Is it a state-wide issue, a Limestone Coast problem, or is it limited to the Naracoorte Lucindale Council area? How is the commission helping people to vote if they have received voting material without the correct voting slips?
A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission telephoned and said they were looking into it.
More phone calls came to The News. In addition to missing slips, it seemed in some areas of the SE, people had received ballot papers with incorrect names, while many had received no ballot papers at all.
The Electoral Commission was unable to confirm with The News how widespread the problem was, or if reports in some areas of wrong names on ballot papers were correct.
Patrick Ross said he had spoken to the commission and the people he had spoken with were being issued new voting packs.
“I can’t believe all this is going on. Everyone has a right to cast their vote, and they should be able to do that,” Mr Hocking said.
Mrs Hocking said it just was not good enough and she had recently met with people who still had not opened their ballot papers.
“I told them they needed to open them because they could be like me – they could be missing the (mayoral) voting slip and then they’ll end up missing out on voting,” she said.
“If people just put it aside and think they’ll do it later, and then there’s a problem and a voting slip missing– well they might just chuck it all in the bin because it’s too hard.
“After I rang Patrick Ross to tell him about it, I rang the Electoral Commission toll free number. The person I spoke to said she would have to send a form down to me, which I would have to sign to say that I didn’t get all of my ballot papers.
“Then I would have to post that back to Adelaide. And then I would have the new envelope with everything sent down there.
Mrs Hocking explained how the postal system worked between Adelaide and Lucindale, and then Conmurra. It could take a long time for all that to happen, and she really wanted to cast her vote.
“They just don’t understand what it’s like for country people,” Mrs Hocking said.
“The next day I got a call from the Electoral Commission SA manager of elections John Alderman. I think Patrick gave him my phone number.
“So, I explained it all again to him. And he said, well, don’t worry about waiting for a form to come to sign to say you haven’t received the correct paperwork. He said he would send a new envelope down.
“I said he would have to send it by express post, and I went through it all again about the post in country areas. I said to him that it just wasn’t good enough and how come all these mistakes are being made?
“Anyway, the good news is that I did receive another envelope, it didn’t come by express post, it came by priority post – which is no different to ordinary post here. I voted straight away and sent it back.
“It should be there in time, but it’s just not good enough. This all makes you wonder how many other people are affected?”
The Electoral Commission issued a statement which said: “ECSA had only been contacted about the names you had provided and did not have a record at that stage of any other requests for ballot pack reissue.
“I believe they also reached out to the (mayoral candidate Patrick Ross) to investigate further and determined it was not wide reaching.
“If that changes, ECSA can reissue ballot packs to those who call the call centre.
“ECSA can take requests to reissue votes by phone or website. This is the first year that council elections have allowed the phone request.
“Voters who have not received their ballots tomorrow should call ECSA so that they can look into the reason.
“The close of rolls was July 29, so if someone moved house after that date the ballot would be sent to their old address.
“Ballots that have been reissued may take 3-5 days to arrive, depending on the location.
“Ballots should be returned to the mail before the 7th November to ensure they arrive back to ECSA by 5pm on the 10th November.
“Voters can contact their local council to find out where the council chamber ballot boxes are located.”
In order for your vote to count, it must be received by the electoral commission before 5pm tomorrow night Thursday, November 10.
This article appeared in the Naracoorte Community News.
