Missing Senate votes: Mick Keelty says lax WA standards to blame for lost ballots

Updated 13 minutes ago

An inquiry into Western Australia’s missing Senate votes has found significant failures in the handling, movement and storage of ballot papers.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) asked the former commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Mick Keelty, to conduct the inquiry after more than 1,300 ballot papers disappeared.

The bungle has left the Senate result up the air, with the AEC asking the High Court to order a fresh election in the New Year.

Mr Keelty found no evidence of any deliberate attempt to destroy or steal the ballot papers, but said the lax systems in WA made it difficult to reach a conclusive finding.

Mr Keelty has recommended the AEC introduce tamper-tracing materials for transferring and storing ballot papers.

He also recommends CCTV and alarms at the warehouses where ballot papers are stored.

Read Mr Keelty’s report into the missing WA Senate votes.

Topics: government-and-politics, elections, federal-elections, perth-6000, wa