The federal opposition is fuming that ticks could count as a Yes vote in the referendum but a cross will not count as a No vote.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will complain to the Australia Electoral Commission after Commissioner Tom Rogers said a tick could be counted as a Yes vote but a cross would not count as a No vote on the Voice to parliament referendum.
A spokesman for the AEC said the rules for referendums had been the same for a long time and that the “savings provisions” – that is, the ability to count a vote where the instructions have not been followed but the voter’s intention is clear – had been in place for 30 years. “If legislation is required to clarify this, then we’ve got plenty of time. Parliament’s back the week after next, and we would support a sensible bill to clarify it that the prime minister can draft up … You can’t have a situation where they’re trying to provide favour to one side in a democratic election.”In a statement, the AEC said the savings provisions existed for federal elections as well and that the commission had no discretion to simply ignore them.
“The issue with a cross is that on many forms people in Australia use in daily life, and in some other languages, it represents a ‘check mark’ indicating yes – it therefore leaves it open to interpretation or challenge by a scrutineer. A tick would also be open to interpretation and may not count depending on just how clear that mark is on the ballot paper.”
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