An Embarrassing Storm In A Teacup

At the Fremantle local government elections October 2023, the WA Electoral Commission, who by law are charged with running local government elections, monumentally stuffed up by sending out the wrong postal voting forms in two Freo Wards. Eligible voters in Central Ward received voting slips with the names of candidates in the Coastal Ward, and eligible voters in the Coastal Ward received voting slips with the names of candidates in the Central Ward.

Just about everyone who opened the envelope with the voting slip in it realised there was a stuff up and got in touch with someone like the City of Freo CEO Glen Dougal to point it out. The Electoral Commission, highly embarrassed about all this, then rushed about sending out new, correct voting slips, to voters with a note explaining their error.

However, some candidates and interested parties were of the view that the error couldn’t be so easily rectified and considered the Electoral Commission should effectively have called a new election to overcome any confusion and doubt about the legitimacy of the declared outcomes. When that didn’t happen, two complainants took their concerns to the Court of Disputed Returns to have the results in these two Wards declared void.

Yesterday, Magistrate Darge, who heard the case in the Court of Disputed Returns, concluded that while a ‘momentous’ error had obviously been made there was, based on the evidence he received, insufficient reason to overturn the results.

Rather than paraphrase the issues and what the Magistrate had to say, here are relevant extracts from the Court’s decision.

First, here’s the front page identifying the Court, the Magistrate and the complainants and the interested parties.

Now here’s the Magistrate’s Introduction setting out the essence of the Electoral Commission’s stuff up.

And here’s the Magistrate’s Conclusion.

In his decision, between identifying the issues in the Introduction and working out the answer in the Conclusion, the Magistrate sets out in detail what witnesses from the Electoral Commission, including the aforementioned Mr Richards, had to say, as well as what the complainants and the other interested party told him.

What the Magistrate seems to be politely saying, after laying out all the evidence, is that, accepting the mistake made by the Electoral Commission was ‘momentous’, the whole thing was a otherwise a bit of a storm in a teacup.

Mind you, the Electoral Commission wouldn’t want to make a mistake like this again. Heads would undoubtedly roll.

* By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ If you’d like to COMMENT on this or any of our stories, don’t hesitate to email our Editor.

~ WHILE YOU’RE HERE –