NSW election officials are being harassed, followed and nonconsensually filmed while moving pre-poll ballots by conspiracy theorists who are baselessly accusing them of committing election fraud.
Videos of NSW Election Commission (NSWEC) workers moving boxes of ballot papers are circulating among online conspiracy groups and are being promoted by some of their more prominent figures.
These videos appear to show workers following typical procedure and transporting sealed boxes of filled-out pre-poll ballot votes.
“It is usual practice for full ballot boxes to be moved during the early voting period to the election manager’s office, for secure storage when an early voting centre has taken a large amount of votes,” the NSWEC’s website says. It also includes a list of processes to ensure the integrity of votes during the process.
Despite this, these videos are being used to make unsupported claims that election workers are somehow committing election fraud.
Former Liberal MP turned United Australia Party leader Craig Kelly took issue with a “bloke in shorts and a T-shirt” using his personal vehicle to transport votes.
Similarly, Family First candidate Lyle Shelton tweeted that he was “concerned” about the ballot transport process before he was informed by the NSWEC Twitter account that this was normal procedure.
Other videos being shared on Telegram show people confronting NSWEC workers, calling them “crooks”, telling them that they “can’t take them” and telling them that what they’re doing is “illegal”. Multiple videos capture the worker’s faces and car numberplates even after workers ask them to stop filming.
One Telegram group, which Crikey has chosen not to name to avoid amplifying its claims further, has collated and published more than 10 videos and photos of different NSWEC workers carrying boxes.
An NSWEC spokesperson rejected election fraud claims and reiterated that the videos showed workers following the correct procedure.
“This is permitted and there are processes in place to ensure there is a robust audit trail of ballot box movements,” they told Crikey.
Election fraud is a common type of election misinformation spread by conspiracy groups in the lead-up to and after elections (like claims made by United Australia Party’s Clive Palmer after the 2022 federal election) but is rarely substantiated.
