Unfounded claims that the Voice to Parliament referendum will be “rigged” have ramped up after mainstream political figures from the No campaign accused the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) of favouring the Yes campaign.
Late last week, the AEC’s Tom Rogers stated that a cross on the referendum ballot was “unlikely” to be counted as a No vote, as had been standard practice for 30 years and several referendums before the Voice.
This prompted an outcry from No campaigners in politics and in the media. No campaign leader Nyunggai Warren Mundine said: “you [sic] got to question the integrity of the @AusElectoralCom”. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said this rule showed that the process was “rigged”. The No campaign released a video about the decision called “Everybody knows”, which featured a song with the lyrics “The fight was fixed”.
The AEC was quick to respond, releasing a statement saying that it “completely and utterly rejects the suggestions by some that by transparently following the established, public and known legislative requirements, we are undermining the impartiality and fairness of the referendum”.
But these claims had already emboldened some at the fringes to spread claims of electoral fraud. These claims have circulated in the past — citing the fact-checking No campaign as “rigging” the referendum — but escalated last week.
On platforms such as Twitter and Telegram, hundreds of thousands of people saw posts from fringe political figures such as former MP and United Australia Party national director Craig Kelly and neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell, who shared clips of media coverage of the AEC’s statements with comments calling the referendum manipulated and fixed.
Similar clips were shared dozens of times in anti-vaccine, far-right and other online conspiracy communities. On Facebook, posts and comments in anti-Voice groups — such as “Senator Jacinta Price — Dont Divide Us Vote No” and “Vote No to the Voice to Parliament, before we are all Damned” — went further, spreading election fraud conspiracies around destroying mail-in ballots or erasing votes written in pencil.
Dr Kurt Sengul, a far-right and populism researcher, said it was “incredibly noteworthy and concerning” that the undermining of the AEC had been led by a mainstream political party.
“To see the claim that the AEC is ‘rigging’ the referendum emerge from the Liberal/National Party was really concerning and I think will serve to mainstream and normalise conspiracies around election integrity moving forward,” Sengul told Crikey.
While baseless electoral fraud claims failed to catch on during the 2022 federal election, Sengul said sowing distrust around the function of an institution like the AEC lays the groundwork for delegitimising future events beyond the referendum, such as a future federal election.
“We may look back at this moment as a turning point for when election lies and conspiracy theories entered into Australian mainstream political discourse,” he said.
The AEC is rigging the referendum in favour of the NO case obviously, requiring people voting YES to write a full extra letter than those voting NO! How can it possibly be reasonable for people in favour of recognition and a voice to have to work out this arcane complexity of writing a three letter word?!
And there we have it!
Elsewhere I have commented that Dutton was Australia’s Trump, with the personality, charisma, charm, good looks or money, and as Leader of the Opposition he is displaying those Trump characteristics.
The Right Honourable Peter Dutton is calling into question the integrity of the Institutions he is supposed to represent.
I wonder if there is a provision for the Government to call for a Vote of No Confidence in the Leader of the Opposition. 😉
Presumably “without”…………………….
Definitely “without”.
He is not Right Honourable. No politicians are these days. The are merely Honourable.
I have a feeling the NACC is about to disprove your thesis………………
When I worked for an electoral commission the only fraud that was detected was when an elderly parent was collected from the nursing home by one child and taken to vote in the morning. Another child collected the elderly parent in the afternoon and took them to vote. The elderly parent had forgotten that they had already voted. In the history of Australian elections fraud has never affected the result.
Agree, but last federal election raised questions about AEC logistics for offshore voters in particular nations with no Embassy voting options i.e. postal vote papers did not (ever) arrive (suggesting not posted?), but a minority of individuals had same delivered by courier; there has been no response from the AEC.
No excuse, the VEC sends an email to registered email which includes a single use/20 minute access code to download papers, print, vote and post; too easy and secure.
Why is it always the same right wing idiots? The QAnon loving, anti-vaccine, Neo-Na zi types are seemingly addicted to the next conspiracy theory.
It’s an ongoing belief that everyone from the top down is out to get them one way or another
+There may be an element of truth to that. Sane people can stand the rantings and lies of fuckwits only for so long.
That would be their own personal algovirus
Ironically, they are the victims of a conspiracy of sorts – it’s just perpetrated by con artists, grifters and malign individuals on the internet who saw their dumbasses coming.
As someone said recently, what’s happened to the conservative tradition of upholding political institutions?
Simple. These goons aren’t conservatives, they’rs reactionaries