The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) has called for patience as ballots continue to be returned by post this week for the Prahran and Werribee district by-elections.
Electoral Commissioner, Sven Bluemmel, today acknowledged that “emotions may be heightened during close elections, as is the case in Werribee District”.
“We understand the desire for an immediate result, however, counting takes time and we prioritise accuracy over speed during counting processes,” Mr Bluemmel said.
“This is crucial to ensure electoral integrity and a result that stands up to scrutiny. What matters most is making sure that every vote is counted accurately, and this takes time. Our systems are working as intended, with each vote scrutinised by candidate-appointed representatives monitoring the count at each step of the process.
“We also saw growing numbers of early and postal votes at these by-elections. A substantial proportion of postal votes are expected to be returned throughout this week, before the close of the postal receipt period at 6 pm on Friday 14 February. This can contribute to an outcome not being known on election night, especially in close seats.”
Mr Bluemmel noted that all early votes, election day votes, and postal votes received up to close of voting on Saturday were fully counted on election night. All counting venues finished their primary and two-candidate preferred (2CP) counts on the night as planned, he said.
“We know election nights are high-pressured environments, but it is vital that we follow protocols and maintain our independence. Today we are ensuring that due process continues with the re-checking of votes, which is a standard process for all Victorian state elections.”
“We are actively monitoring the rate of postal returns and at this stage primary results are expected to be known on the evening of Friday 14 February, before preference distributions occur over the following days.”
The VEC also today confirmed that an election worker at a voting centre had been removed from the location on Saturday following “inappropriate comments”.
“We take electoral integrity very seriously, and we do not tolerate behaviour that risks the neutrality of our workforce. Prior to commencing employment with the VEC, all staff are required to complete a disclosure of political activities. Employment with the VEC is subject to the satisfactory completion of this disclosure,” the Commission said in a statement.
“On Saturday we were alerted to reports that a member of our temporary election workforce at a voting centre was overheard making inappropriate comments that breached the VEC’s requirements to act with integrity and impartiality. We immediately raised it with the person and directed them to leave their position and play no further role in the election. The person left the site by 12.30 pm on election day.”
The Commission maintains all of its 500 staff working on the Prahran and Werribee by-elections on Saturday, with the exception of the one isolated incident, carried out their duties in strict accordance with VEC policy.
The final voter turnout figures won’t be known until all postal votes have been returned to for counting. Currently, the progressive turnout for the Prahran District by-election is at 64.29% and Werribee District by-election is at 75.22%. For reference, the 2023 Warrandyte District by-election turnout was 79.67% and the 2023 Mulgrave District by-election turnout was 80.94%.
Typically, the turnout for a state by-election is around 10 percentage points lower than the turnout for that district at a state general election. Prahran District’s turnout at the 2022 state election was 82.7% and Werribee District’s was 85.58%.
