NEWS

25 July 2018

On Sunday 22 July 2018 on SkyNews, doubts were cast whether we can trust the results of the looming five By-elections.

“Our Electoral Rolls lack integrity, thus enabling vote frauds,” said Lex Stewart, President of Vote Australia, on the Outsiders program, where Rowan Dean asked questions about a list of 16 electoral fraud cases in Australia, while Ross Cameron provided information about vote frauds in USA.

(VIDEO - Electoral legislation 'enables voter fraud' - Sky News.com.au)

“It is not just me who is concerned.  Reports by the Australian National Audit office state that the electoral rolls are in a shambles.”

“Official advice to me recently is that the electoral roll contains at least 248,000 incorrect enrolments, many of which have been deliberately falsified.”

Two recent events highlight the ongoing vulnerability of the electoral roll to manipulation. 

Salim Mehajer, former Deputy Mayor of Auburn (NSW), was sentenced last month to 11 months in jail for fraudulently enrolling voters in the Auburn electorate who in fact lived outside the electoral boundary.  In another case this year, a senior electorate staffer who worked for NSW State MP, Noreen Hay, was found guilty in May of forging enrolment documents ahead of the NSW state election in 2015.

Vote Australia considers that there are numerous other instances of roll manipulation that went undetected and which influenced the outcome of elections.

“Australia is one of the few countries in the world that lacks a requirement on voters to identify themselves when they go to polling places to vote,” said Mr Stewart.

“Voter ID is required in most countries. Kenya and Iraq introduced it last year.”

Using vote frauds, marginal seats can be won by candidates who are not the ones for whom the majority of voters truly voted for.

 “Our voting systems are simply not capable of delivering true democracy,” said Mr Stewart.

“The government needs to urgently consider amending the Commonwealth Electoral Act to curb vote frauds.”

For further information contact Lex Stewart,  mobile 0424 077746