Surge in voting errors in aged care and hospitals under scrutiny

Health Minister Mark Butler wants significant attention paid to discovering why the rate of informal votes has almost tripled in hospitals and aged care centres as it potentially affects the results of closely contested electorates.

Peak industry groups including the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association and National Seniors Australia are also calling for the Australian Electoral Commission to discover the cause of increased informal votes to prevent it from happening again.

Health Minister Mark Butler.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The revelation that an unusually large number of voters in hospitals and aged care centres had their votes rejected as informal has spurred interest groups to demand the commission review voting patterns in aged care and hospital settings.

Butler said on Monday that his responsibility for the health sector included making sure some of Australia’s most vulnerable enjoyed the right to vote.

“The outreach that the AEC has conducted for a long period of time into these facilities to ensure that residents are able to exercise their democratic right to vote is a critical part of our democracy,” he said at a Canberra press conference.

“There’s certainly a very significant increase in informality in some areas, including, frankly, I saw in my own electorate. I look forward to that being the subject of significant attention.”

This masthead revealed on Monday that in two seats, Berowra in northern Sydney and Lyons in regional Tasmania, two teams collected more informal than formal votes. In Berowra, the informal rate among the 250 ballots collected by its special hospital team soared by 64.5 per cent since the 2022 election to almost 70 per cent.

Vote counting by the Australian Electoral Commission.

The seat of Bradfield started a formal recount on Monday after Liberal Gisele Kapterian finished just eight votes ahead of independent Nicolette Boele after the first full count on Friday. The special hospital teams in the seat recorded much higher rates of informal voting than in 2022, and the total number of informal votes collected by the teams was up from 16 to 107.

Informal votes across the five special hospital teams used in Calare increased by between 8.5 per cent and 31.2 per cent on 2022 election levels. Of 808 votes cast in special hospital teams, more than 17 per cent were found to be informal compared to just 8 per cent across the electorate.

National Seniors Australia chief executive Chris Grice said there could be several reasons for a spike in informal votes.

“People are entering age care older, more frail, and many with cognitive decline. Older people, like others, may also feel disengaged with politics and this might lead to an informal response when they cast their vote,” he said.

“If the informal vote is because of cognitive impairment in hospital, aged care or the community, the AEC should continue to ensure the process for opting out or being excused from the electoral role is clear, simple and not open to abuse.”

Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association chief executive Tony Farley said the AEC must investigate the cause of the problem and encouraged officers to interview staff.

“As we see with those tight margins with those close seats, every vote counts,” he said.

After every federal election, parliament will launch an inquiry into all aspects of conduct of the election.

Special Minister for State Don Farrell is set to ask for a parliamentary report on the 2025 election later in the year.

“We have a strong and robust democracy, and our elections are conducted by the independent AEC,” a spokesperson said.

“We welcome the parliament’s joint standing committee on electoral matters reviewing matters relating to the recent election in due course.”

An AEC spokesperson also confirmed the commission would conduct a study of the informal ballots, adding it was unclear on the reason for the spike in informal votes through hospital teams.

Other challenges posed by the AEC’s special hospital teams have emerged since the first reports.

During the final week of the election campaign, a man was admitted to a major hospital in the NSW Central West that sits in the electorate of Calare.

The partner of the man, who did not want to be identified, was unable to vote when electoral commission staff visited as hospital personnel were unaware that voting was taking place.

When he contacted the electoral commission the following day, he was told it was too late to seek a postal vote.

On the Saturday of the election, the man was still in hospital with health issues which prevented him from travelling to a polling booth.

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