Voting in a campaign T-shirt? The AEC suggests you ‘whack on a cardie’

The Australian Electoral Commission has been forced to clarify the dress code for voting after an Indigenous man was reportedly turned away from a pre-poll venue for wearing a Yes T-shirt.

The ABC has reported Yagara and Bundjalung elder Uncle Valentine Brown was told to return home and change his clothing after he turned up at an early voting venue near Ipswich, west of Brisbane, wearing a Yes T-shirt.

The Yes campaign has sold a huge number of T-shirts and paraphernalia to promote the cause, but voters may need to follow Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney’s lead and pair it with a cardigan to cast their ballot.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The 73-year-old told the ABC the electoral commission later informed him that he could wear the T-shirt, and he returned to the same venue to successfully cast his vote.

“All I wanted to do was put my name down and put my vote in the ballot box,” Brown told the ABC.

The electoral commission, the independent entity that runs federal elections and referendums, issued a statement on Thursday morning reminding voters that campaigning is not allowed inside the polling place or within six metres of the entrance.

They clarified that simply wearing campaign clothing to vote was probably OK, but advised voters to avoid any potential problem by not wearing campaign material in the polling place, or bringing additional clothing to cover up.

“If a voter wears a pin, shirt or hat with a campaign slogan into the polling place, casts their vote and leaves then it may not be considered as campaigning,” the statement says.

“However, when inside a polling venue a problem could arise if a voter is seen talking about the material or gesturing towards it.”

The Yes campaign has sold a huge number of T-shirts, pins, badges, hats and even earrings to promote the cause. The same rules would apply to anyone wearing No paraphernalia.

The rules on campaign clothing are the same for elections, but ordinary voters are less likely to wear campaign clothing in an election, and campaign staff are briefed on the rules.

“Best to just ... whack on a cardie or take the pin off or whatever, cast your vote, then put it back on when you get outside,” the electoral commission’s Evan Ekin-Smyth told ABC Radio.

Populares chief executive Ed Coper, an expert on election integrity and disinformation, said the workers at the 7000 polling booths around the country would have experience running elections, but very few would have been involved in a referendum since the last one was in 1999.

He said the purpose of the rules was to stop other voters from being intimidated, and in the context of the referendum, the focus should be on the person’s behaviour rather than their clothing.

“I’m not sure if fashion advice falls within the AEC remit,” Coper said. “The fact that people will turn out on Saturday wearing T-shirts and badges, and wanting to express their deeply held belief, that’s a good thing,” Coper said.

“We should be encouraging that sort of participation in democracy, while also maintaining polling booths as a safe space for people to express their vote safely.”

The electoral commission said its staff would take a “commonsense approach” and asked voters to “be kind” to its temporary workforce of 100,000 people who were “everyday members of the community doing their best”.

The referendum is on Saturday, but 6 million people have already voted either through an early voting venue or via postal vote.

There has been at least one alleged incident of violence at an early voting centre so far in the referendum.

Queensland Police charged a 30-year-old man with serious assault for allegedly attacking a 65-year-old man at a polling centre in North Ipswich last week, after a verbal argument.

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