An inquiry has been called and a byelection for the entire state of Western Australia could be on the cards after the Australian Electoral Commission revealed 1375 ballot papers are missing from the WA Senate recount.

Electoral Commissioner Ed Killesteyn has apologised for the missing papers, which he said could not be found despite "exhaustive efforts" to locate them.
Mick Keelty, former commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, will head an inquiry into the missing WA Senate votes.

Mick Keelty, former commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, will head an inquiry into the missing WA Senate votes.

Former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty has been called in to conduct an independent inquiry.
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Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson has moved quickly to criticise the AEC for the missing papers.

"I have personally expressed to the Electoral Commissioner my strong view that this situation is totally unsatisfactory and that I, as the responsible Minister, view this matter very dimly,'' Senator Ronaldson said.
Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson has called an inquiry into the missing votes.

Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson said it is ''totally unsatisfactory" for votes to have gone missing.

"Incidents such as this go to the heart of the AEC's reputation.  Trust in our democratic institutions is paramount."

According to the AEC, 1375 votes that had been verified during the initial WA Senate count could not be "located, rechecked or verified in the recount process". These votes were classified as 1255 formal above-the-line ballots and 120 informal votes.

The WA recount began on October 17, after a successful bid by the Greens and the Australian Sports Party to have the extremely close result reviewed. Greens Senator Scott Ludlam and the Sports Party's Wayne Dropulich lost the election to the Palmer United Party's Zhenya 'Dio' Wang and Labor's Louise Pratt, who took the fifth and sixth available Senate spots.

But the result hinged on a crucial 14-vote margin at one stage of the count, when the Shooters and Fishers Party edged out the Australian Christians, meaning preferences ultimately flowed to the PUP and Labor.

AEC spokesman Phil Diak said that the commission knew that most of the votes had come from the electoral division of Pearce with a lesser number from Forrest. He said the commission had looked at all the places where the 1375 papers had been.

"From here, obviously, we do consider them misplaced, we have tried all avenues," he told ABC 24.

This is not the first time missing votes have featured in the 2013 election campaign.

During the tight race to claim the Victorian seat of Indi, a missing pile of votes for eventual winner Cathy McGowan was discovered and put down to a "clerical error".

In the first count for Fairfax, about 750 votes were recorded for a Buderim centre that should have been recorded at Coolum Beach.

PUP leader Clive Palmer has been highly critical of the Australian Electoral Commission since the election on September 7, saying that the recount is "undemocratic".

On Thursday Mr Palmer tweeted that the missing votes were "another" AEC fraud and that the AEC "should declare [the] recount invalid and restore original result".

He went on to accuse the AEC of deliberately rigging the election..

"It's just trying to rig the election, it's trying to stop our party from having the balance of power and the AEC interfering in politics," he told ABC radio on Thursday afternoon.

Senator Ludlam said the result should not be declared until the votes were found and while Mr Keelty was conducting his investigation.

"We do feel completely justified in calling the recount in the first place," he told reporters in Sydney.

The Greens senator said he wasn't able to speculate on why the papers had gone missing.

"This has come out of the blue," he said of the missing papers.

Senator Ludlam has previously said his scrutineers found "handfuls" of wrongly assigned votes during the recount.

ABC election analyst Antony Green suggested on Thursday that WA voters could be headed towards the first Senate byelection.

He said the missing votes were almost certainly down to an administrative error but noted that another Senate vote would be an ''acute embarrassment" for the AEC.

"It's entirely possible that the vote would have been the same [with the missing votes included] but the problem is the the ballot papers cannot be verified," Mr Green said. 

The AEC says it will shortly declare a result for the WA recount, but added it would "strongly consider whether any petition to the Court of Disputed Returns is necessary".

Mr Diak said that according to the Electoral Act, candidates and voters could also petition for the Court of Disputed Returns to look at the WA vote. But he said the AEC could not comment on the likelihood there would be another vote.

The new WA senators are not due to start their terms in the Federal Parliament until July 2014

Unless these votes are found, nothing can make this right.

“How do you manage to lose that many votes and will somebody take responsibility for this fiasco and fall on their sword?” Mr Palmer said.

“The AEC has just become a joke and a fraud with some of the mistakes that have been made during the 2013 federal election counting.

“The recount in WA should be declared invalid and the original result restored as it was the only one which has every ballot was counted.

”The AEC agreed to a request for a recount from the Greens despite Palmer United Party candidate Dio Wang being declared the winner of the fifth Senate seat in WA.

Mr Palmer said the Palmer United Party had strongly rejected the AEC's decision to order a recount as well as its move to only recount above the line ballots.

“There have already been discrepancies in this recount with several hundred ballots mistakenly placed in the informal pile,” he said.

“We have already seen a number of discrepancies in the counting in my electorate of Fairfax on the Sunshine Coast.

“Is the AEC trying to rig the election? Are they committing a fraud? Or are they just completely incompetent?

“Certainly our experience from this election is that there are many issues with Australia’s voting system and the AEC needs urgent reform.”

and now piggy is complaining his man won and should stay WON.




PALMER United Party federal leader Clive Palmer has demanded the Australian Electoral Commission declare the recount of the Senate vote in Western Australia invalid after more than 1300 votes went missing.

Mr Palmer said the admission from the AEC Commissioner of a "serious administrative issue" where 1375 votes could not be recounted was another example of the "incompetent and fraudulent conduct of the AEC".

"How do you manage to lose that many votes and will somebody take responsibility for this fiasco and fall on their sword?" Mr Palmer said.

"The AEC has just become a joke and a fraud with some of the mistakes that have been made during the 2013 federal election counting.

"The recount in WA should be declared invalid and the original result restored as it was the only one which has every ballot counted."


I am not sure why. . but somehow I cant see piggy saying that had his bloke lost first time round...


HILARIOUS>

and now piggy is complaining his man won and should stay WON.




PALMER United Party federal leader Clive Palmer has demanded the Australian Electoral Commission declare the recount of the Senate vote in Western Australia invalid after more than 1300 votes went missing.

Mr Palmer said the admission from the AEC Commissioner of a "serious administrative issue" where 1375 votes could not be recounted was another example of the "incompetent and fraudulent conduct of the AEC".

"How do you manage to lose that many votes and will somebody take responsibility for this fiasco and fall on their sword?" Mr Palmer said.

"The AEC has just become a joke and a fraud with some of the mistakes that have been made during the 2013 federal election counting.

"The recount in WA should be declared invalid and the original result restored as it was the only one which has every ballot counted."


I am not sure why. . but somehow I cant see piggy saying that had his bloke lost first time round...

HILARIOUS>

PUP won the 4th Senate position on the first count.  It seems the first recount is now compromised.

So, logically cods, what happens next?

Government doesn't believe foul play responsible for missing ballot mystery
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