Wollongong Greens Candidate Jessica Whittaker calls for more voter education

Wollongong Greens candidate Jessica Whittaker has called for the NSW Electoral Commission to offer more voter education to combat informal voting.

The Wollongong Council election results were finalised on Wednesday with ward 3, running from Dapto to Port Kembla, repeating the 2017 outcome as the highest informal voting ward.

The figures from the initial count were confronting with a handful of booths in the southern ward returning an informal vote percentage above 30 – including Warrawong Public School where 45 per cent of the 1038 voters were initially deemed to be informal.

The final results saw the figure at Warrawong Public School drop to just over 13 per cent, while Cringila Hall (14.59 per cent), Warrawong Hall (10.67 per cent) and Windang Senior Citizens Centre (10.5 per cent) among the highest informal voting booths.

The overall informal vote for ward 3 was 6.6 per cent compared to 4.7 per cent in ward 2 and 4.9 per cent in ward 1 – a similar margin to the 2017 election.

The Greens’ unsuccessful lead candidate in ward 3 Jessica Whittaker said the informal votes probably wouldn’t have swung the poll in her favour.

“It’s pretty devastating to see so many informal votes,” she said.

“I don’t think we were close enough for it to really change (the result), but I am a really strong believer in democracy, especially for people doing it tough on the edge of society.

“It’s their right to vote, they should have the right to cast a valid vote and to have that explained to them.

Corflutes replace how to vote cards across Wollongong, including this booth in Port Kembla. Picture: Dylan Arvela

Ms Whittaker argued more onus should be on the NSW Electoral Commission to improve voter understanding, adding further education about all levels of voting should be offered in high school.

“There was an opportunity (for voters) to get how to votes online or to save them on their phones, but there was virtually nothing from the NSW Electoral Commission,” the Port Kembla resident said.

“We all really need to do better next time. It’s a learning experience for us and it should be a learning experience for the Electoral Commission. They shouldn’t just put it on parties to explain how to vote, obviously Labor have the most resources around here so they are going to have a significant advantage.

“Wouldn’t it be great if people already knew how to vote before they turned up?

“Maybe it has to start in high school, maybe we need an election road show, I know primary students go to Canberra, but that isn’t followed up in later years – we need to get younger people more excited about democracy.”

Despite being unable to join Greens Mithra Cox and Cath Blakey on council, Ms Whittaker revealed she may have another tilt in three years‘ time.

“Maybe, I don’t know where I will be,” she said.

“If I am still around here doing the same thing and feeling the same passion for local issues then I’ll definitely consider throwing my hat into the ring again.”