Poll day error on voter list

THE Tasmanian Electoral Commissioner will write to about 150 voters whose names were not checked off the register after they cast their ballots at mobile polling booths at the last State Election.

A voter, who along with her colleagues, cast their ballot at a mobile polling booth which visited a Tasmanian aged care facility, said she had received an infringement letter.

She said those affected were not only concerned about the fine but worried their vote had not been counted.

Commissioner Andrew Hawkey said 149 voters had been affected after names from one of the mobile booths were not logged into the system.

“We have identified those affected and I will be writing to them. We should have picked this up and I will be apologising,” Mr Hawkey said.

“The TEC has identified that electors marked off one Franklin mobile polling team netbook and one Braddon declaration vote netbook were not included in the consolidated report of electors marked as having voted. This has resulted in 149 electors incorrectly being sent a letter last week.”

Mr Hawkey said if those voters placed their ballot paper in the ballot box “there is no reason to believe that it was not included in the count”.

Having identified the error, the TEC is now reviewing its processes for elections.

The TEC says about 20,000 letters asking voters to either pay a fine, stipulate where they had voted or explain why they did not vote were sent after the election. Anyone who has paid a fine despite being one of those who was not ticked off would be reimbursed.