By Bonny Burrows
Scores of disgruntled voters slapped with financial penalties for failing to vote in last year’s Cardinia Shire local election face court action in a bid to clear their names.
The Victorian Electoral Commission issued 7838 infringement notices to Cardinia residents for not voting in the October local government election, but almost 100 contacted the Pakenham Gazette arguing they did vote.
It came after the Gazette put a call out on social media in light of other media reports, asking if anyone had been wrongfully issued with a fine.
The Facebook post quickly attracted 170 comments from affected residents and the office was inundated with dozens of phone calls and emails.
Many residents have slammed the postal vote method as unreliable, arguing that ballot papers went missing while others say notification letters of the election were never received.
Data from Cardinia Shire Council revealed that the shire had 30,508 enrolled voters at the time of the election.
Pakenham’s Donna Monckton said she was never aware of the postal election in the first place and that the first she heard of the election was via a fine in the mail.
She explained this to the VEC but “was told to summon to court” because her reasoning was “unsatisfactory”.
“I get mail all the time, I got a notification on the federal election and mail from local members all the time, but I never received a letter about a postal vote for the local election,” she said.
She’s determined to fight the penalty and described the VEC’s unwillingness to budge as “revenue making”.
“Of course I’m fighting it, it’s not true. They say they need proof I haven’t received it but how do you prove it?” Ms Monckton said.
Caldermeade’s Dean Achterdenbosch clearly remembers voting but, like Ms Monckton, is unable to provide proof.
“I sat at the kitchen table and filled it out and the same time my wife did hers and we posted them together. I got a fine, she didn’t,” Mr Achterdenbosch said.
Now he’ll cough up for a fine he said he shouldn’t have to pay as he “can’t prove the letter is sent and it’s not really worth going to court over $78”.
The Gazette heard dozens of other stories of families posting votes together with only some received fines while many said the VEC refused to accept that people’s mail went missing.
Despite this, the VEC signalled no intention to review the postal voting method.
A spokesperson for the commission said ballot material must have been dated and mailed by the deadline of 21 October 2016 for a vote to be valid.
The VEC did not publicly detail valid excuses for not voting, the spokesperson said, however “we have strict procedures for processing all received votes”.
He put complaints of uncounted votes down to voter error.
“It may be the case that one ballot envelope in a reply envelope containing multiple ballot envelopes was incorrectly dated (thus not counted),” the spokesperson said.
“These requirements are clearly detailed in voting material and if they aren’t met then non-voter follow-up will be conducted.”
Residents had the option of paying or appealing against the fine, he said, but “it is important to take action in relation to the infringement notice or the matter will become more serious”.
“You can pay the attached fine; request an internal review if you believe it was wrongly issued or if you have exceptional circumstances; or have the matter heard in court,” the spokesperson said.
Residents who believe they have been wrongfully fined can request an internal review.
Information on the review process is at https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/Voting/Fines/InternalReviews.html.
