South Australians searching the web for a way to cast an early vote in the state election are once again being targeted by a major party, but they might not realise it.
Mount Barker resident Nathan Rogers is one of thousands of South Australians who will vote ahead of the March 19 state election, partly due to COVID-19 concerns.
When looking for information about how to register for postal voting online, Mr Rogers said he came across something unexpected.
"I typed in 'SA electoral commission postal voting 2022' into Google, and then I clicked on the first search result," he said.
"That page enabled me to enter my address and other details … but then I realised it was a page established by SA Labor."
The SAVotes website uses white text on a navy background that reads 'South Australia Election Vote 2022'.
The Electoral Commission of South Australia's (ECSA) website colours are also navy and white, and it has a similar font.
Under the main header on the website created by Labor is smaller text that reads, "Information about voting in South Australia", and under that, "A free service provided by SA Labor".
At the bottom of the page is an authorisation by the SA Labor Party.
Mr Rogers, who said he was not a member of any political party, questioned whether voters would realise the site was not an official ECSA page.
"There was no Labor branding on the page, no Labor logos whatsoever."
Is this allowed?
The electoral commission told the ABC that there was no law that prohibited a political party from "encouraging voters to vote and providing information to help them vote".
But in 2018, ECSA declared a website set up by the Liberal Party, Vote Early SA, was "misleading" because it could have wrongly been perceived as coming from the commission itself.
SA Liberal Party director Sascha Meldrum confirmed her party had "sought advice from ECSA on whether Labor's website was compliant" with the electoral act.
ECSA deemed the website was compliant. It told the ABC the issues it took with the Liberal Party's Vote Early site were not present in this case.
"The issues in 2018 were that the political communication could be confused as an ECSA communication, and there was some data harvesting."
"In the case of the SAVotes site, the advice was that it is labelled a Labor site … and the postal vote application takes voters directly to the ECSA website and does not imply that they have already applied for a postal vote."
The ABC understands the Liberal Party will launch its own website with postal vote information later today.
So, it's legal. But is it ethical?
According to electoral law expert Graeme Orr from the University of Queensland, targeting postal voters with party propaganda was a decades-old practice.
"When parties used to shove forms in your letterbox, there was some public benefit because they were reaching out to elderly people who couldn't use the internet," he said.
Professor Orr said there was another, slightly more cynical, reason for targeting postal voters — the ability to expose them to political material, including how-to-vote cards.
"Anyone can set up a website and pretend they're helping people apply for postal votes, but they're really just trying to get propaganda in front of people," he said.
As to whether the practice is ethical, Professor Orr said that depended on how the information was presented.
"It's dodgy if it's not easy to tell instantly that you're on a party site, and not an official site," Professor Orr said.
SA Labor Party secretary Reggie Martin said there could be no confusion about the SAVotes site.
"The Labor-branded site SA Votes states clearly that it is a service provided by SA Labor and is correctly authorised with the Labor Party name and address clearly visible," he said.
"It also has the ALP campaign logo on the tab."
What should voters be aware of?
The electoral commission has indicated it expects a surge in postal votes due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Professor Orr said that meant voters should expect to be targeted with postal vote information from the major parties, and should be discerning about where it came from.
"We're all a bit vulnerable in the sense we live busy lives," he said.
"The sort of people who might be most vulnerable are those who are not internet savvy, who are older, whose first language is not English."
He advised voters to always go directly to the South Australian electoral commission's official website.
"You should always go to the official website, and you'll get it done quickly, and without any party propaganda," he said.
