Mulka vote count stuff-up an ‘honest mistake’, says NT Electoral Commissioner Iain Loganathan
NT Electoral Commissioner Iain Loganathan says the Mulka vote-counting error now being looked at by the NT’s anti-corruption watchdog was an ‘honest mistake’.
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- ICAC co-ordinating ‘response’ into Mulka vote count stuff up, Ken Fleming QC confirms
- Vote recording stuff up hits Mulka, NT’s most marginal seat, as NTEC orders recheck of count
NT Electoral Commissioner Iain Loganathan says the Mulka vote-counting error now being looked at by the NT’s anti-corruption watchdog was an “honest mistake”.
The NT ICAC recently revealed it is co-ordinating a ‘response’ into the vote-counting error in the seat of Mulka.
The issue is among 21 reports of alleged improper conduct made to ICAC in relation to the election.
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NT Electoral Commissioner Iain Loganathan today addressed questions about the ICAC looking into the Mulka error.
“We certainly have been transparent about that, it was just an administrative error,” he said.
“The wrong sheet was used. These things happen when you’ve got hundreds of staff filling out a whole lot of paperwork — it was just an honest mistake.
“As soon as we identified that mistake, we certainly let the candidates know and the scrutineers.”
The NT Electoral Commission had to undertake a recheck of votes in Mulka after two-vote recording errors were discovered during counting.
Vote figures at Nhulunbuy voting centre on election night were attributed to the wrong candidates, so the count attributed to Independent Yingiya Mark Guyulawa was meant for Labor’s Lynne Walker and vice versa.
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It comes as the NT Electoral Commission officially declared the results of last month’s election today.
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