Letter claims electoral fraud in SA poll

Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond says she's considering challenging results in
marginal South Australian seats following claims a family fraudulently voted 159
times in last Saturday's election.
The South Australian Electoral Commission has also asked its lawyers to investigate
the allegations, contained in a letter published in a Saturday newspaper.
It claimed to be from a group of siblings calling themselves `The Election Team',
who said they committed the fraud in two marginal seats to make a point about poor
identity checks and other problems with the Electoral Act.
Ms Redmond on Saturday said she was taking legal advice about a challenge to the
election results, in which Mike Rann's Labor government narrowly retained power.
She said checks on voter's identity on polling day should be strengthened to ensure
the validity of elections.
"I have been aware of this issue (of multiple voting) for some time and been
thinking we needed to address it," the eight-month leader of a Liberal Party told a
press conference, as quoted online by Adelaide Now.
"It could definitely have affected the outcomes in close seats - we have had
elections before where there has just been one vote in it at the end of day.
"We are still getting legal advice on some of the dodgy things that have occurred so
I'm not ruling out (a challenge) because we need to take legal advice.
"It is certainly something we will consider over the next few days."
In the letter, published by the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper, `The Election Team'
claims it was easy to steal the identities of voters that did not attend on polling
day.
It also states that one of the siblings involved was underage but "had no
difficulty" voting 31 times.
"There are individuals who are incapable of voting but they remain on the electoral
roll," the letter says.
"There are individuals who are absent. There are individuals who need assistance and
are all too easily conned into giving up their right to vote.
"You may wish to consider this a hoax. It is not. Our activities may or may not have
influenced the outcome of the election".
Electoral Commissioner Kay Mousley said she had asked South Australian government
lawyers to investigate through the government investigations unit.
If the fraud occurred it was a breach of the electoral act, and voting more than
once can result in penalties of $2500 and six months jail, she said.
Offenders could also face charges for breaches of other acts and more serious
criminal charges of impersonating another person.
"We have to take the claims seriously," Ms Mousley told AAP.
"Their claims would have been logistically complex to be achieved and we do not have
a lot of information about it so unless they come forward it will be difficult to
take it further.
"Did they do it or is someone being mischievous?
"They claimed to have memorised 159 names and addresses, how do you achieve that?"
Ms Mousley said if `The Election Team' claiming to be behind the letter existed they
had gone about making their argument in the wrong way.
"It's definitely not the right way to go about it, you should be petitioning local
members for legislative change," she said.
"There are some very passionate people out there, that's democracy."
The letter warned it would repeat the fraud on a larger scale at a future election
until its demands for change were met, including an end to compulsory voting and
compulsory preferential voting.
Attorney-General John Rau said in a statement that he had asked for a briefing from
Ms Mousley to review on Monday.
"The author or authors of the letter have refused to identify themselves or provide
any evidence of their claims, the allegations at present are completely
unsubstantiated," he said.
"If there is any material that supports the allegations it should be referred to the
police."