Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says voters should be able to validly use a tick or cross on their ballot paper for the Indigenous Voice referendum, accusing the Yes camp of attempting to “skew” the vote.
The comments come after Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers unintentionally triggered a debate by telling Sky News “a tick will be accepted as a formal vote of Yes, but a cross will not be accepted as a formal vote”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will announce the date of the referendum in Adelaide midway through next week.
The voting paper will require the word Yes or No to be written in a box. This will be made clear in instructions issued by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
Dutton, who backs a No vote, said he would write to Rogers seeking clarification on his comments.
“If a tick counts for Yes, then a cross should count for No. It’s as clear as that,” he told radio station 2GB on Thursday.
“Otherwise, it gives a very, very strong advantage to the Yes case.”
The Opposition leader claimed the Yes camp had consistently attempted to slant the vote in its favour.
“At every turn, it just seems to me that they’re taking the opportunity to skew this in favour of the Yes vote when Australians just want a fair election, not a dodgy one,” he said.
Dutton said he was open to supporting government legislation to clarify the issue ahead of the referendum, which is expected on 14 October.
Voters to write Yes or No on ballot
The AEC said the formal voting instructions for the referendum are to clearly write Yes or No in full and in English.
The commission expects the instructions to be followed, as they were in 1999 when the informal vote rate was 0.86 per cent.
The AEC has long-standing legal advice about ticks and crosses.
As well, “savings provisions” give the commission the ability to count a vote where the instructions have not been followed but the voter’s intention is clear.
A number of government and business forms allow a cross or “check mark” to be used to indicate a positive decision, leaving it open to interpretation or challenge by a polling booth scrutineer.
A tick may also be open to interpretation and may not count, depending on just how clear that mark is on the ballot paper, as would a Y or an N written in the box.
Scrutineers will be present through the count on referendum day to observe the process.
