Stolen ballots in Serpentine-Jarrahdale council election may have been submitted with forged signatures

Voting ballots stolen from letter boxes in a recent local government election in Perth’s south appear to have been submitted with forged signatures. Leaked documents show the WA Electoral Commission found discrepancies in five in every seven inspected ballots in the Serpentine-Jarrahdale council election. The Commission investigated after residents reported missing ballots, with the latest revelation suggesting some may have been signed fraudulently. It comes after The West Australian revealed a successful candidate’s ex-wife and friend were convicted of stealing separate voting packages in the same electoral ward. Cr Gary Singh admitted Amandeep Rosha and Ved Tewari - who were caught with about 50 ballots in a citizen’s arrest - were part of his volunteer campaign team. However, he claimed he had not spoken to them about any wrongdoing. The thefts triggered invalidity complaints from both the council and an unsuccessful candidate, who questioned whether the election should be redone. Cr Singh was one of two candidates to win seats in the North Ward at the October 16 election. Councillor Rob Coales won 1161 votes and Cr Singh received 606. Shaye Mack placed third with 432, missing out on a seat by 174 votes. The case is now in the Court of Disputed Returns to see whether the links between the illegal activity and Cr Singh are strong enough to warrant a by-election or remove him from his seat. In a letter to the council from Electoral Commissioner Robert Kennedy on November 3, he said he did not feel the original thefts would have affected the result of the election, despite conceding “obviously some aspects of the election process have been marred”. But, due to pressure from ratepayers, further probes were conducted by the Commission to see whether the signatures on a sample of ballots matched people’s original voting declarations. And of the 42 inspected, 30 had signatures that looked “significantly different”. The West used Freedom of Information laws in an attempt to see all the findings, but the Commission refused to give up any documents. The Commission would not comment on whether it had reported its findings to police who would then be able to investigate and press charges if voter fraud had occurred. It said it would be “inappropriate” to comment during an investigation. Cr Singh did not respond to questions over whether he knew anything about the forged ballots. Mr Tewari did not respond to questions over whether he knew anything about the new findings. The West is not suggesting Mr Tewari and Ms Rosha were also the individuals who may have forged the ballots. Local Government Minister John Carey and Electoral Affairs Minister John Quigley would not comment as the case was before the court.