An anonymous post calling for informal votes in Wollongong's 2024 Local Government elections has come to the attention of the NSW Electoral Commission's Compliance Business Unit.

In the lead-up to September 14’s council elections, a Facebook post titled ‘Wollongong Ward 3 How to Vote Card’ called on voters to submit informal protest votes to show they were unhappy. 

“Shout out to W’gong ward 3,” read the anonymous post by Oztraveller, an admin of No Offshore Wind Farms Illawarra, a public Facebook group with almost 9000 members. “Fun fact; 6.65% informal votes last election Can we crack double digits tomorrow with NO OFFSHORE WIND FARMS ILLAWARRA”

A reader contacted Illawarra Flame editorial staff with concerns about the post.

Today an Electoral Commission spokesperson told the Flame, “Electoral material that could result in an elector casting an informal vote contravenes the Local Government (General) Regulation 2021.

"Allegations the NSW Electoral Commission becomes aware of are reviewed in accordance with the Commission’s Compliance and Enforcement Policy." 

According to this policy, depending on the type of breach, options to promote compliance or to enforce the law include communication, education and written warnings.

"Unless permitted by law, the Commission cannot comment on specific compliance matters or confirm whether or not it is conducting an investigation," the spokesperson said.

In Ward 3, which covers the southern suburbs of Wollongong, voters had only two choices: Labor or Greens. No independents were nominated and no Liberals appeared on ballots due to a blunder by the 80-year-old NSW Liberal Party, which failed to nominate candidates by the deadline.

On Tuesday evening, the Electoral Commission’s Virtual Tally Room showed there had been 7803 informal/other votes counted in Ward 3, amounting to 28.06% of the 27,804 progressive total votes counted so far. 

However, the commission says it is too early in the process to be clear about the number of informal votes as check counts will be completed in the week starting 30 September. 

In a media release, Acting NSW Electoral Commissioner Dr Matthew Phillips said in the initial count process several types of votes are allocated to the "Informal/Other” category in the NSW Electoral Commission’s virtual tally room. 

“At this early stage of the count process, the ‘Informal/Other” category does not just include informal votes. It also includes other types of votes that undergo further sorting and counting,” said Dr Phillips. 

“For example, some candidates’ formal, Below the line votes are included in the 'Informal/Other' category votes figure category. In the Virtual tally room these candidates are marked with an asterix.”  

“During the Check count, these votes will be reviewed and, if formal, moved out of the ”Informal/Other” group and included in the formal count numbers.”  

The Electoral Commission said after the Check count, the “Informal/Other” votes number will reduce as officials scrutinise the votes initially allocated to this category. 

The count won’t be completed until all postal votes have been returned to the Electoral Commissioner. The deadline for this is 6pm on Friday, 27 September 2024. 

Once all votes have been counted, results will be declared in writing between 1 and 3 October 2024. 

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