Staff of the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) are still hard at work on ballot paper checks weeks after the federal election.
Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said that while results in almost all seats were publicly known, AEC assurance activities, which were “mammoth” in scale and not well understood outside the walls of an AEC counting centre, must continue.
“To date, hundreds of millions of individual checks have occurred in what is a deliberately methodical, large scale and transparent manual exercise,” Mr Rogers said.
“Our local teams, many of whom pulled out all the stops to deliver the vote in a six-week election campaign affected by COVID staffing issues, continue to work long hours and weekends to deliver the rigorous procedural and legislative requirements that an Australian federal election demands,” he said.
“The count to date has delivered Australians their chosen government and we’re continuing to stick tightly to our processes to deliver final, trusted and legal results in all House and Senate contests by the legislated deadline.”
Mr Rogers said the counting assurance activities being completed in the coming days and weeks were essential to the integrity of the process.
“‘Right, not rushed’ – It’s a key principle for us and despite an understandable external desire for things to be wrapped up quickly, it is a principle that maintains the strength of Australian elections,” the Commissioner said.
“We will deliver legal, transparent and trusted results by the legislated deadline.”
