Thread by @kevinbonham

Jones citing 18,000 Australians being asked to explain why their name was ticked off more than once. Evidence of nothing but the AEC doing its job. I have personal experience of this.

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsAust/status/1455844926999040005

In the 1999 Republic referendum I was marked off twice - once at Tolosa St Glenorchy, once in Longford. Staff knew me and were suitably bemused that my name appeared but did their job and sent me the please-explain letter.

I sent the AEC a reply stating I was in Longford and listing various witnesses that I couldn't have voted at Tolosa. Very likely a clerical error; Tolosa was not at all a likely booth for anyone who disliked me enough to have gone to (and it has never happened again.)

Interview mentions Herbert 2016. There were not 200 cases of multiple voting, there were 200 cases of multiple *markoff*.

Transcript here is interesting re AFP investigations.
aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_…

End of interview Jones flags a system where you only have one booth you can be marked off at and McGrath pays it lip service instead of just pointing out how impractical this is because of the vast increase in dec prepolls + absents it would cause.

Also note the 18,000 double markoff figure was 2016; it was just over 2,000 in 2019.