An investigation into the weekend’s election will begin in earnest after counting is finished, as the WA Electoral Commission grapples with political fallout from the vote.
An investigation into the weekend’s election will begin in earnest after counting is finished, as the WA Electoral Commission grapples with political fallout from the vote.
The weekend’s election was plagued by reports of ballot paper shortages and long lines at select polling booths in Perth and Bunbury.
The WAEC insisted on Sunday that it was adequately staffed on the day but will carry out an investigation into the shortages and queues once counting is complete.
Speaking on Sunday, newly elected Premier Roger Cook said there were lessons to be learned from a saga he labelled unacceptable.
“I just want to say that it was unacceptable yesterday, the waiting times for people who are having to wait to vote,” he said.
“It was unacceptable that the WAEC actually ran out of some ballot papers in some booths, obviously they could get some from others.
“We were disappointed with the WAEC running of the election ... I’m sure a lot of people shared our frustration with having to wait so long.”
Mr Cook said he would be briefed on the election this week and refused to be drawn on the future of WAEC commissioner Robert Kennedy.
Fremantle independent Kate Hulett, who is in a neck-and-neck race to win the portside electorate from the incumbent Labor minister Simone McGurk, has flagged the potential of legal action against the commission over the weekend.
Nationals WA leader Shane Love called this morning for the WAEC to be suspended and a parliamentary inquiry conducted.
“The first order of business for the new parliament must be to suspend the Electoral Commissioner while a thorough inquiry into the conduct of the WAEC at the election is held. This must include whether the electoral commissioner was competent and capable of performing their duties,” Mr Love said.
"I have heard there were boxes where there weren't even security tags provided for the booths, meaning that anyone could have tampered with those boxes and no one would know.
“These are not minor administrative issues – they go to the heart of public confidence in our democratic system.
"There are some electorates where the result is at a knife edge and it could be that a few votes here or there, could make the difference about whether that candidate is elected or not."
Mr Love said outsourcing staffing of the election to a foreign third party was a disgrace and raised security concerns.
Singapore-based PersolKelly has the recruitment and training contract for elections in Western Australia.
Mr Kennedy fronted a short media conference on Sunday, where he pledged to review the situation.
The commission found an unlikely ally in former Liberal leader Zak Kirkup this morning, who took to social media to highlight the challenges it faces in running an election.
“Every single year the commission asks for more money from successive Liberal and Labor governments and they never get it,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
“They never get resourced to what they actually ask for, despite there being more pressure around the security and integrity of our elections.”
Mr Kirkup said funding for the WAEC had not kept speed with inflation or population growth and recounted his own experience waiting on results to come through when he lost the seat of Dawesville in 2021.
“It may be easy to blame them for things that might appear they can control: long lines, ballot paper shortages and slow results,” he said.
“No one would be more concerned about that than the WAEC themselves.
“When I was waiting nearly a week to find out if I won or lost Dawesville in 2017, I hated the pace of the count.”
The Electoral Commission was allocated $50.3 million to deliver its services in the 2024-25 State Budget. It spent $36.5 million in the 2020-21 financial year.
The state’s electoral body entered this year’s election with a focus on countering misinformation and communicating the difference between this year’s state and federal ballots.
