Falling voter turnout and a surge in harassment at polling stations have prompted the Victorian Electoral Commissioner to question whether the state’s election laws are fit for purpose.

Outgoing commissioner Warwick Gately said the 2022 state election produced a three-fold increase in complaints about harassment and badgering of voters by candidate and party workers, a phenomenon he attributed to a growing “win at all costs” culture within Victorian politics.

Victoria’s outgoing electoral commissioner Warwick Gately says it is time to review the state’s election laws.Credit:Eddie Jim

Last November’s poll also produced the equal lowest voter turnout since mandatory voting was introduced nearly 100 years ago. This continues a worrying trend in decreasing voter participation, whether through people voting informally or not voting at all, which was detected four years ago.

Gately said while further research was required to establish whether the febrile atmosphere at some polling places contributed to the historically low turnout, it aggravated difficulties already faced by the VEC in finding enough volunteers to supervise booths and counting. This is likely to result in fewer people volunteering at the next state election.

“In both the 2018 and 2022 state elections, the VEC was forced to limit campaign worker numbers in several voting locations because of poor candidate and party worker behaviour, lack of co-operation and aggressive tactics to get to the voter and provide a how-to-vote card,” Gately wrote in response to a report published in The Age about falling voter turnout.

“Many complaints were received from voters who suggest the badgering behaviour is a factor in driving electors away from voting in person or at all.”

During an exclusive interview, Gately urged the Victorian parliament to review the state’s electoral laws to assess whether they are best serving the interests of voters.

“The system was designed in 2002 to be enduring, but we need to make sure that it still is contemporary,” he said. “Is the Electoral Act, after 21 years, still serving the democratic purpose that it is there to do?

“I think the electoral system is good shape on the whole, but parliament can do more. Are we absolutely focused on the elector? Is it easy for the elector to have their say and get their vote counted?”

During the 2014 state election, the VEC received 50 complaints about the behaviour of candidates and party workers, nearly all relating to aggressive tactics used to give electors how-to-vote cards. By the 2018 poll, the number of complaints jumped to about 100. In 2022, there were more than 300 complaints, some requiring police to attend polling places.

Warwick Gately finishes his 10-year term as Victorian Electoral Commissioner at the end of April.Credit:Eddie Jim

Gately said the behaviour at polling places reflected a hardening of the state’s political culture. “Results are getting closer, margins are less, the stakes are higher,” he said. “That plays itself out, I think, in a win at all costs. They play to the extremes of the legislation.”

Gately did not want to advocate for specific changes to election laws, saying this was a matter for parliament. But he said telephone voting had been trialled successfully at both the 2018 and 2022 elections, which could open the possibility of more people voting without having to run the gauntlet of candidate and party workers at polling places.

A report in The Age last week examined why voter turnout at the last state election fell to the lowest level since 1943, when Australia was fighting World War II. Explanations put forward by political researchers and leading psephologists included disengagement from politics and the complexity and antiquated features of Victoria’s voting system. Gately said any change in how votes are counted would require changes to the law.

Sarah Cameron, a Griffith University researcher and chief investigator of the Australian Election Study published after federal elections, said disengagement among Victorian voters reflected a national 15-year trend of diminishing political trust.

People cast their vote on election day on November 26 last year.Credit:Justin McManus

This has coincided with an erosion of political partisanship, with only 37 per cent of respondents to the Australian Election Study now reporting that they vote for the same party at every election. This is the lowest figure on record.

Cameron said while there was a disconnect between this and voting laws designed to support a two-party system, the major parties had no incentive to reform. “Political parties are interested in winning elections. They are not going to be keen to pursue reforms that will cost them seats in parliament.”

When parliament’s Electoral Matters Committee tabled its final report into the conduct of the 2018 election, it made clear its dissatisfaction with the responses it received from the VEC about why people are turning off voting.

Gately said while the VEC would evaluate its 2022 engagement strategies – which included sending SMS voting reminders to 2.4 million people and responding directly to social media misinformation about the electoral system – falling voter participation was a shared responsibility.

“It is a mistake to think that the responsibility for participation lies solely with the VEC,” he said. “Elected representatives, including those in councils, registered political parties, candidates, supporters, and campaign workers must look to how they can contribute and their own standing within the community.”

A former Navy frigate commander appointed by the Baillieu government, Gately will finish his 10-year statutory term as electoral commissioner at the end of April.

The 2022 election was a particularly difficult one for Gately, who took personal leave in the final week of the campaign to undergo emergency surgery. The VEC was accused by Liberal Party lawyers of a “seriously, deliberate and unprecedented interference” in the election after Gately, on his final day before taking leave, publicly revealed that he had referred to IBAC an election funding complaint relating to Matthew Guy’s chief of staff.

Gately declined to respond to the criticism against him, other than to say he was satisfied that he correctly exercised his authority and independence in accordance with the Electoral Act.

He said democracy in Australia remained in good shape and the Victorian electoral system still worked well. But in the two decades since the current Electoral Act was legislated, an additional 1.16 million people had been added to the electoral role, the number of candidates had mushroomed and early voting had significantly altered the voting process and demands on the VEC.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.

Most Viewed in Politics

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article