Albo's Trickery, page-24

Can you use a tick or cross to vote in a referendum?

Please don’t.

The formal voting instructions for the referendum are to clearly write yes or no, in full, in English. This will be part of our campaign advertising, it is on our website, in the guides delivered to all Australian households, it will be the instruction on the ballot paper and will be re-enforced by our polling officials when people are issued with their ballot paper.

We expect the vast, vast majority of voters to follow those instructions.

The formality rules for referendums has been the same for a long period of time – this includes ‘savings provisions’ (the ability to count a vote where the instructions have not been followed but the voter’s intention is clear). Savings provisions exist for federal elections as well. The AEC does not have any discretion to simply ignore savings provisions. They are a long-standing legislative requirement. Since 1988 the AEC has followed legal advice regarding the application of savings provisions to ‘ticks’ and ‘crosses’ on referendum ballot papers (over 30 years and multiple referendums). This is not new.

The issue with a cross is that on many forms people in Australia use in daily life, and in some other languages, a cross represents a ‘check mark’ indicating yes - it is therefore open to interpretation as to whether the cross denotes approval or disapproval. A clear ‘tick’ can be interpreted as denoting approval for the proposal.

A clear ‘y’ or ‘n’ can indicate the voter’s intent – however if the handwriting is unclear it could risk an informal vote. This is why the Commissioner, and the AEC will be very clear and regular with our communication that people need to write the word ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in English, in full.

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