Position paper
MULTIPLE VOTING
Multiple voting is a person votes more than once, votes in the name of another person, or
applies for a ballot paper in the name of another person. It is electoral fraud and considered an
offence under section 150 of the Electoral Act 2002 - punishable by a fine of 600 penalty units,
or up to five years in prison.
Multiple voting can occur when a person votes multiple times in their own name at a number of
different voting centres, or where they vote multiple times under another person’s name across
many voting centres (someone they know to be on the roll or recently deceased). It can also
occur when a person requests a postal vote, early vote or mobile vote and then attempts to vote
again on election day.
Detection measures
Multiple voting is detected by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) when the rolls for the
election are scanned with a view to producing a list of non-voters. As each elector visits a
voting centre, they have their name – or another person’s name under which they are voting –
marked off the roll. Each voting centre has a copy of the roll and all the hardcopies go through
an electronic scanning process at the conclusion of the election. Names that have been marked
off more than once are highlighted for investigation. A similar process also exists for the
scanning of rolls from early voting centres.
Where the person has applied for a postal vote or mobile vote, they are marked off a central roll,
which is then compared to the voting centre hardcopies after scanning. Any duplicates
immediately become apparent. In all instances, the VEC issues a request for an explanation to
the voter in question.
The 2010 Victorian State election was the first election where the use of electronic roll mark-off
was piloted at all early voting centres. The trial was successful and the VEC is considering the
introduction of this technology on a larger scale as all units operate on a ‘live roll’. In other
words, once a person is marked off the roll at one location, all other voting centres can see that
that person has been marked as having voted.
Where the elector applies for a postal vote, early vote or mobile vote in future, this will show up
on the roll at election day voting centres and prevent them being given another ballot paper.
Incidence of multiple voting
The incidence of multiple voting is incredibly small. At the 2010 State election, the number of
admitted multiple voters was 355 or 0.01% of the proportion of participating voters. Federally,
these figures are mirrored, with the Australian Electoral Commission reporting multiple voters in
2010 of 1,458 or 0.01%.
Denied
Admitted –
elderly
confused,
dementia
No
response
Returned
Possible
undelivered admin
error
Total
2010
Victorian
State
election
623
355
70
15
5,945
7008
2010 Federal
election
5,211
1,458
956
639
7,925
16,189
Enforcement of penalties
The VEC follows up every instance of possible multiple voting in writing. In the majority of
cases, human error has resulted in the largest number of instances, resulting from election staff
inadvertently crossing off the name above or below the presenting voter’s name – particularly
where there are many versions of the same surname e.g. Jones, Walker, Nguyen. This is soon
identified once the record is matched with an apparent non-voter record of a similar name and
excluded from the follow-up – resulting in a mail out to 1063 individuals in 2010.
In the vast majority of cases where the multiple voting is admitted, investigations usually reveal:

the voter is elderly and has forgotten that they voted previously;

the voter is elderly, has voted, but one or more family members ‘take them to vote’ again
– not realising they have already voted;

they are new voters with limited understanding of the voting process; or

they have English language difficulties.
2
In some instances a person has been concerned that their postal vote may not make it back in
time, so they voted at a voting centre just to ensure their vote is counted.
Each admitted multiple voter is warned by the VEC that their future voting activities will be
closely monitored and formal action taken should a similar situation reoccur.
Future
A number of suggestions to combat the issue of multiple voting have been made in recent times
– such as photographing voters entering a voting centre or demanding to see voters’ driver
licences. The VEC is of the opinion that in the short term, the EasyVote Guides distributed to
voters could be populated with a unique barcode, which could them be scanned at a voting
centre and automatically record the voter’s roll details. The VEC is currently investigating such
technology systems.
In the medium to long term, the VEC believes that an electronically assisted voting system could
also use a unique identifier to allow access to online voting and at the same time, mark the voter
off the roll.
Until such time as systems are developed, the VEC does not see any merit in the enforcement
of what is in the main, honest mistakes, when it comes to multiple voting. In the handful of
instances where a voter may have voted more than once intentionally, it is has not had any
impact on an election result – this has been checked in every case.
Moreover, it is not in the public interest to prosecute these cases as advice received indicates
you cannot prove that the individual placed ballot papers in the ballot box, or that if they did, the
vote was formal. All that can be proven is that they were marked off the roll and handed ballot
papers more than once.
February 2012
Victorian Electoral Commission
Level 11
530 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
vec.vic.gov.au
3