Sunshine Coast election booths run out of ‘paper’ with long lines still to vote

Sunshine Coast voters in a 150m long line have been left unable to have their say as several polling booths across the region run out of ballot papers.

A mayoral candidate has lashed out amid reports several Sunshine Coast polling booths ran out of ballot papers before voting closed, leaving residents who had lined up angry.

Buddina resident and election volunteer Brent Hall said that voters at the polling booth at Siena Catholic College were told by the Electoral Commission of Queensland representatives they had ran out of ballot papers.

“As at around 5.40pm, we were told by the Electoral Commission that they had run out of ballot papers,” Mr Hall said.

Mr Hall said that people in the line were extremely angry and frustrated.

Voters at Siena Catholic College where ballot papers ran out before 6pm.

“We still have a line at least 100m long, maybe 150m.

“There’s no opportunity for these people to vote.”

Mr Hall said people were concerned they could not have their say.

“Some of these people have come back two or three times so they weren’t in the heat of the day,” Mr Hall said.

“We are well before the deadline and people are angry.”

Mr Hall said people’s names were being noted by ECQ representatives so they did not get fined.

Sunshine Coast mayoral candidate Rosanna Natoli, who was at a Baringa polling booth, said there were people waiting up to an hour to vote.

Voters have reported having to come back to polling booths to vote because of the long wait times at some Sunshine Coast locations.

“The queue is still that long now and they are not going to make it through before six o’clock,” Ms Natoli said.

“A lot of people are wanting to make their vote and who have been here for a very long time and we’re not sure what is going to happen at six o’clock.”

Mrs Natoli said volunteers had told her polling booths at Maroochydore High School, Bli Bli, Peregian Springs and Coolum Beach north had also run out of ballot papers.

Sunshine Coast mayoral candidate Rosanna Natoli says volunteers had told her polling booths had run out of ballot papers at several locations. Picture: Iwan Jones

“That’s a significant number of booths that have run out of paper,” Mrs Natoli said.

“Obviously now that is going to delay the count, which is nowhere near as big an issue of the fact of people missing out on their right to vote.”

An Electoral Commission of Queensland spokesperson said it would review “data and turnout numbers” to “inform” state government election planning.

The spokesperson said the ECQ took more than 1.1 million votes at 160 early voting centres across the state over the past two weeks, and had sent more than 440,000 postal ballots.

“Ballot papers for elections are managed by returning officers and can be distributed between polling booths within the local government area to meet elector demand,” the spokesperson said.

“We are aware of some booths requiring ballot paper replenishment late this afternoon.

“Today, the ECQ has more than 7000 staff working at over 1000 polling booths across Queensland.”

The spokesperson said staffing was allocated according to expected voter turnout.

“Queuing times at polling booths vary depending on the polling booth and time of day, with most queue times reported to be 15 minutes or less,” the spokesperson said.

“The large majority of electors demonstrated understanding of this situation and the ECQ has received very few reports from returning officers about issues at booths.”