Check the signatures: Handwriting experts could be called in to assist Adelaide City Council election fraud probe

A candidate for Lord Mayor has called for handwriting experts to assess potentially fraudulent ballots at the centre of an Electoral Commission probe.

Handwriting experts should be brought in to assess ballot papers in a city ward where there are allegations of fraud and an investigation should be made public by the count, candidates say.

Area councillor candidate Domenico Gelonese has written to Commissioner Mick Sherry with the support of 16 city candidates calling for the findings to be released ahead of the count next Saturday.

“Without public confidence that the outcome of our electoral process is free from electoral misconduct/fraud, participation in local elections is at risk of significant erosion and the trust in the people’s elected councillors and mayor will be irreparably damaged,” Mr Gelonese wrote.

Mr Gelonese said he wrote to every city council candidate seeking their joint support for the letter, after The Advertiser this week revealed four city apartments home to a large number of international students were targeted by Chinese people collecting blank ballot papers.

Two men were photographed with a wad of ballots, who were understood to be in support of a Central Ward candidate, outside the Vision Apartment, on Morphett St.

Two people with a pile of opened council election ballot papers outside a city student accommodation building.

Lord Mayoral candidate Jane Lomax-Smith wrote her own letter and said there was anecdotal evidence “other candidates” were possibly engaging in other similar practices.

“Having recently visited Chinatown shops in the Central Ward with a translator, I believe many electors did not receive their packs or know that they were eligible to vote,” she wrote.

Ms Lomax-Smith requested the Central Ward votes be quarantined from the count, those ballots be given particularly scrutiny and handwriting experts engaged.

“It would be a travesty if the whole election was compromised to such an extent that it had to be rerun,” she wrote.

SA Police was still assessing information provided by the Electoral Commission which declined to comment on a current investigation.

The letter’s signatories

Lord Mayoral candidates: Sandy Verschoor, Vivek Gupta, Steven Kelly

Area Candidates: Domenico Gelonese, Arman Abrahimzadeh, Glenn Bain

North Ward candidates: Mary Couros

Central Ward candidates: Alexander Hyde, Gagan Sharma, Alex Radda, Jing Li, Zhuopeng Hou (Simon)

South Ward candidates: Theo Vlassis, Colette Slight, Tim Scott, Helika Cruz, Ida Llewellyn-Smith