An unexpected crunch on March 16 forced voters to queue for up to three hours, while ballot paper shortages meant some didn’t vote at all, a new report reveals.
Queenslanders voting in this year’s council election shunned the pandemic-era early voting trend, with half a million more voters turning up on polling day than expected, an independent review has found.
The Electoral Commission of Queensland was caught out by long queues and a shortage of staff and ballot papers at many booths.On election day, several polling places had three times more voters than expected, leading to long, disorganised queues, frustration, and a “chaotic, stressful experience for staff”, according to a report by Nous Group that was released on Tuesday.
And a small number of polling places temporarily ran out of ballot papers, leaving voters stuck in queues, unable to vote at their preferred place, or prompted to abandon voting entirely. The report found evidence of ballot paper shortages in at least 39 polling places across eight council areas, while at least 18 polling places ran out at some point during the day.The longest a booth had to be closed due to ballot paper shortages was two hours, but a small number ran out a short time before 6pm, leaving voters with few chances to have their say elsewhere.But the report’s authors said it was unlikely that the voting problems led to incorrect candidates being elected.
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