A former Cessnock councillor fears votes cast in the September local government election have been lost, after dozens of people received notices incorrectly saying they hadn’t voted.
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Bryce Gibson said he received a letter from the NSW Electoral Commission telling him that he had not voted.
The question needs to be asked: where did our votes go?
- Former Cessnock councillor Bryce Gibson
The letter, seen by Fairfax Media, said he had to either provide a valid reason for failing to vote, pay a $55 fine, take the matter to court or explain when and where he voted if he believed the commission was mistaken, by January 9.
Mr Gibson, a Liberal councillor who decided not to contest the election, said he knew of about 40 people who voted in the poll, but received a letter.
He has called for the Electoral Commission to conduct a full review.
“If fines are being sent to people who have stated they pre-poll voted at this election, then the question needs to be asked: where did our votes go? Have they been lost? Was there a miss count?” he asked.
“As a former councillor and as someone who has invested a third of his life to the cause of changing the local political landscape I was very angry at receiving a fine. I don’t see voting as a chore as I am sure some do, but I view it as a privilege that some people in the world don’t have the benefit of discharging.
“Now this could be a simple computer error but it still gravely concerns me, the prospect that ballot papers may have gone missing, because the final spots in Ward B and D were won by approximately 250 to 400 votes. Could another candidate have been elected if ballot papers have gone missing?
“In 2016 this is unacceptable.”
A NSW Electoral Commission spokesman said the statutory authority had “not yet received any unusual levels of complaints” from Cessnock voters.
He said people should return their penalty notice with details of the time, date and polling venue where they voted if they believe they have been fined mistakenly.
“This information will also allow us to determine if the issue is confined to a particular polling venue,” he said.
“We can then check the venue records to see if there was a potential roll mark-off issue.”