Narungga’s election story has taken another turn — the kind that makes you double-check the paperwork twice, even if you weren’t the one holding it.
One Nation has retained the South Australian seat of Narungga after a count that was prompted by ballots missed on election day. Misryoum newsroom reported the SA electoral commission said that if the 81 unopened ballots had been included in the original count, One Nation’s Chantelle Thomas’s margin would have increased from 58 to 74 votes. The seat was ordered for a further count because it was close — and, well, close seats tend to attract every loose end.
The electoral commission revealed yesterday that 81 unopened ballots for Narungga had been discovered, along with hundreds from other seats. Acting Electoral Commissioner Leah McLay said, of the 81 ballots, 46 were for Ms Thomas and 30 went to Liberal candidate Tania Stock. She added that one ballot was rejected and four were deemed informal. Misryoum editorial desk noted that Ms Thomas was declared the winner after a recount on April 1 and 2, when she won by 58 votes, or a 0.1 per cent margin.
“Had the ballot papers been included in the original count and subsequent recount, the margin in favour of Chantelle Thomas One Nation would have increased from 58 to 74,” she said. It’s the sort of detail that sounds almost dry — until you picture the waiting, the suspense, the way a result can pivot on a handful of envelopes.
Meanwhile, Ms Stock says there are more than 100 postal votes still to be counted in the electorate as part of a dispute over security question discrepancies. Misryoum editorial team stated that the issue comes down to voters giving one answer online but writing a slightly different response on the envelope. Ms Stock described it like this: the electoral commission’s system asks voters for a question and an answer — “What was your first car?” was the example she used.
“And they have written in their online application that their first car was a Holden,” Ms Stock told the ABC. “But when they’ve received their ballot paper they’ve written down that … it was a Commodore.” Because it wasn’t an exact word match, she said, the vote was determined as informal and therefore unopened, but the voter may not realise their ballot wasn’t opened or counted. She called it “another failing” and argued the process leaned too heavily on online forms and an electronic electoral roll.
The political temperature hasn’t cooled much either. One Nation upper house MP Carlos Quaremba said Ms Thomas’s margin was extended and welcomed the independent review into how the state election was handled. Misryoum newsroom reported he said it was “a good result… for the people of Narungga,” and that it was “finally good to have all this behind us.” But he also argued a parliamentary review was “actually probably more important,” describing properly run elections as “the cornerstone of any democracy.” He wouldn’t speculate about whether more votes might be missing.
The electoral commission has already faced criticism over understaffing, election-day delays tied to difficulties logging into the electronic electoral roll, and the handling of the First Nations Voice vote. Misryoum analysis indicates the commission said it would review the election in line with what it does after every poll, and Special Minister of State Kyam Maher said on Thursday the government would commission an independent review too. Liberal leader Ashton Hurn said the electoral commission “still had a lot to explain,” describing a “litany of issues” that need investigation and answers specifically from the commission.
And honestly, you can feel how this keeps tugging at the same question: not just who won, but how sure everyone can be about the count — especially when ballots go missing, then reappear later, and the margin changes on paper.
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