Indelible pencils, my a…

RUSSELL LANGFIELD
For a number of years I have been concerned with the introduction of pencils being supplied in polling booths. At the Railton polling booth one year, when I questioned the practice and asked if I could use my own biro the answer I got from the Electoral official present there was “no, you can’t use your own pen as it will cause your vote to be invalid” and that “the pencils were indelible pencils.”

“Indelible pencils” my ar$e! I tested and they could easily be rubbed out just with my finger. What other legal document allows you to use pencils?

In the light of the dubious results of the elections where I saw these pencils first appear in polling stations (remote Northern Territory, where it was mostly indigenous Australian populated and the officials were oh so happy to assist the locals in voting) I became very sceptical especially when the general concensus of the NT population at the time had had an absolute gutful of the 23 year corrupt dictatorship/reign of the CLP since the NT was separated from SA governance.

On moving to Tasmania in 2000, to my dismay I found pencils appearing in Tasmania’s polling booths. Sound familiar?

This year, preceding what I believe to be one of the most important elections in Tasmania’s history, I decided to get the facts in writing from the Australian Electoral Commission regarding pencils and pens being used so that there will be no confusion of my/our rights in this respect. Below I have copied and pasted my email enquiry and the AEC’s response.

If I were you reading this, I would be taking my own pen and telling my friends to do the same. Happy voting next year. Oh! And how about we have a Yes/No referendum on the pulp mill at the same time?

Cheers,
Russell Langfield.

Hi,
I would like to know the regulations regarding using pens and pencils to vote at State and Federal Election polling booths.

In recent years I have noticed pencils being issued at polling booths to be used to vote. I am not a supporter of this as pencilled writings can easily be manipulated or totally erased.

Can I take my own ink biro into the polling booth to be used to vote with?

Cheers,
Russell Langfield.

UNCLASSIFIED
Hello Russell,
Thank you for your email. In answer to your question, the provision of pencils in polling booths is a requirement of section 206 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.
There is, however nothing to prevent an elector from marking his or her ballot paper with a pen if they wish. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has found from experience that pencils are the most reliable implements for marking ballot papers. Pencils are practical because they don’t run out, they can be stored between elections and they work better in tropical areas. The security of your vote is guaranteed as the storage and counting of ballots is tightly scrutinised.

Since 1987 the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) has inquired into the conduct of each federal election and related matters. The possibility of fraud with use of pencils has been examined by numerous JSCEM inquiries.

The JSCEM Report on the 1993 Federal Election noted that some submissions sought the abandonment of the use of pencils in order to prevent tampering with ballot papers. However, the JSCEM also noted that no improvement in security would be achieved as regardless of the writing implement used, a voter can cross out or alter a mark and replace it without the vote being informal.

If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

Regards,
xxxx Public Enquiries Officer
Communications Products & Services | Communications & Information Strategy Branch
Australian Electoral Commission
T: 02 6271 4592 | F: 02 6271 4558>