http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/abusive-incoherent-venom-labor-preselection-de...

Labor Party voting to select a candidate for the plum Melbourne seat of Hotham has descended into chaos, with officials responsible for conducting the ballot accused of abuse, intimidation and unscrupulous conduct.

This row is exposed just as the federal Labor caucus endorses Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's sweeping party reforms, aimed at improving harmony and strengthening grass-roots support.

Lawyer and councillor Geoff Lake has written to ALP State Secretary Noah Carroll with a litany of complaints against Labor Party officials, including the use of offensive and threatening language and refusing to let scrutineers examine votes.

The vote of about 497 local members is a two-way contest between Mr Lake — who is backed by former premier Steve Bracks and outgoing incumbent Simon Crean — and Rosemary Barker, member of the right Labor Unity faction lead by Bill Shorten.

The selection of Labor candidates is determined in an equal split between the local vote and a central panel of Labor Party selectors, which will meet on Tuesday.

The letter, obtained by The Age, claims that the Deputy Returning Officer responsible for conducting the vote, Howard Smith, and the acting officer, Tony Williams, abused, threatened and intimidated scrutineers throughout the day on Sunday, when the first round of voting took place.

The letter alleges Mr Lake's scrutineers were ''belittled, abused and dismissed'' and were subject to ''shouting and personal abuse''.

''When Howard Smith arrived at the voting venue and I said 'Hello Howard' as he walked past me and about 20 other voters and canvassers working for the two candidates, he loudly and angrily glared at me and said 'f**k off you','' Mr Lake writes.

''As you know, Howard Smith is a large and imposing man (who likely weighs in at more than 130kg) and at times he stood over my supporters, pointed in their face and yelled his abusive and incoherent venom at them.  As a man with a short fuse and limited self-composure, there were a number of times where they and I feared his conduct may become physical.''

Mr Lake's four-page letter alleges that Mr Smith put his face within 20 centimetres of a scrutineer and shouted ''you're a racist, your side are racist'' as Vietnamese voters were lining up to vote.

It also alleges Mr Smith abused a gay scrutineer, telling him: ''don't get close to me'' and ''move over boy''. In another instance Mr Smith was alleged to have intentionally kept a membership card from the vision of a scrutineer who had concerns about whether a voter was eligible.

''Howard told him to 'sit down and shut the f**k up'. My scrutineer realised the voter was on our list of potential challenges and quickly asked for further identification to check the voter's eligibility.  Howard said 'too late you should have better eyesight' and told the voter 'take your ballot and vote before their side stops you'.''

Mr Williams, the acting returning officer who was also named in the letter, said Mr Lake failed to exit the room after agreeing to remain absent and said his scrutineers had made excessive demands when challenging membership credentials, particularly in relation to some groups of ethnic voters.

''I am extremely disappointed that an internal ALP matter on voting for a federal seat has become public,'' Mr Williams said.

''I am just a private citizen volunteering my services and for this to be made public is very, very disappointing. As far as I'm concerned all ... of us followed the proper rules and processes.''

The letter also alleges Mr Smith referred to a scrutineer as ''a piece of poo'' and ''yelled and screamed'' over a request that the ballot box be locked overnight.

''He used language such as 'you bugger heads can piss off', 'I'm sick of you bugger*** dickheads' and 'are you an idiot?'.

Mr Smith said it was ''absolute bull****'' that he told a gay scrutineer not to get too close to him.

He also denied keeping information away from scrutineers.

''Whenever they asked, and they did not always ask, we would show them ... at the end of the night we actually went through the list to ensure everyone's list was the same.''

He said he got '' a bit narky'' with one of Mr Lake's scrutineers when he stood over him.

''I asked him to sit down because he kept standing over me.''