Charlotte Varcoe
COMPLAINTS have been received by the Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA) about unregistered how-to-vote cards handed out on election day by a local group, Limestone Coast Pro-Choice.
According to the ECSA, a how-to-vote card is prepared by a party, group or independent candidate and indicates how it wants electors to record their preferences while voting.
There are two types of how-to-vote cards; those lodged with the ECSA for display in polling booths and early voting centres, and those made by a person who intends to distribute the card during the election period.
A person must also not distribute the cards during the election period unless it was substantially the same as a card lodged for these reasons.
According to the ECSA, the cards handed out by the Limestone Coast Pro-Choice group members did not comply with the South Australian Electoral Act.
Pro-Choice committee member Maddy Fry said the committee was aware the how-to-vote cards handed out by members on Saturday were unregistered.
“We were simply local community members and not a registered political party from the information we gathered,” Ms Fry said.
“We were not able to register the cards as they [the group] were not affiliated with a party.”
Ms Fry said the cards did not do this due to the ECSA “wanting the how-to-vote cards to endorse one party”.
“If we did that we would be dictating just like the rest of them,” she said.
“The cards do not meet the criteria because they are not formal how-to-vote cards, they are information sheets for the local community.
“Election materials are created by parties to get the party into government, election material is promotional material with the intention to get an individual a job.”
She said the cards were created after concerns from the community about the election and queries about how to vote on the day.
“This is when we came up with the idea of creating the information sheets to hand out,” Ms Fry said.
“We knew the how-to-vote cards were unregistered however we never looked at what criteria was required as we are not a political party and not endorsing anyone.
“We were focused on ensuring these sheets had the information that our local community had expressed they needed.”
The maximum penalty is a $5000 fine if found guilty for producing illegal how-to-vote cards.
