AEC on alert for electoral fraud conspiracies as fringe parties embrace Trump-style ‘stolen election’ lie

Almost one in two red flags issued by the election watchdog to social media platforms concern misleading narratives about voter fraud and electoral integrity — many of which borrow from America’s “stolen election” conspiracies.

Four days out from the election, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has issued at least 45 formal warnings on online election-related content.

Just under half of these are related to misinformation or disinformation about the electoral system.

“There is no doubt that we have seen an increase in incorrect communication about electoral processes (deliberate or otherwise) compared to the previous election in 2019,” an AEC spokesperson said in an email.

The AEC is also being warned of a possible influx of scrutineers being recruited by “freedom parties” and advocacy groups linked to Australia’s anti-lockdown movement to challenge vote counting at the federal election.

Fuelled by conspiracy theories about voter fraud, teams of volunteers are attending training and gearing up to monitor vote counting on polling day. 

“I’ve attended many different local groups … in response to COVID-19 and they say, ‘We don’t trust the government. We don’t trust the elections,’” Tasmanian teacher Felikss Klavins said.

“I stand up and just tell them, ‘Why don’t you just scrutineer if you don’t trust the system?’”

Mr Klavins, who has been unable to find work due to being unvaccinated, has volunteered to be a scrutineer for the Liberal Democrats but is also planning to keep an eye out for other freedom parties like One Nation and the United Australia Party.

“There are areas where they (alleged fraudsters) can very easily and simply change something,” he said.

“When I did it (scrutineering), many, many years ago, way back then, we were told to watch out for people with pieces of lead under their fingernails, where they change a one to a four, which is very easily done.”

Esther Chan, Australia bureau editor for the misinformation monitoring organisation First Draft, said the call-outs for scrutineers linked to election fraud narratives mirrored a strategy used in the United States to raise doubts about election results. 

“As the election gets closer, the minor parties are adopting and building out these narratives,” she said. 

Appointed by political candidates to verify that proper election processes have been followed, scrutineers are able to observe polling and the counting of ballot papers.

Asking for volunteer scrutineers is not unusual. A number of “teal” independent candidates have also posted call-outs for scrutineers on social media, and major parties typically have more established volunteer systems in place.

But potential scrutineers for freedom parties are being recruited via social media and “voter education sessions” being spruiked in email newsletters and in groups on apps such as Telegram.

At one such meeting last week, hosted by a group calling themselves “Making Political History”, 200 viewers were told the freedom parties desperately needed scrutineers to prevent funny business when it came to vote counting.

“Obviously we want to watch for any freedom movement votes making their way into the informal pile,” the moderator warned. 

“I’m not insinuating anything, but this is what can happen,” the group was told.

It is unclear how many scrutineers have successfully been recruited, as there is no central data on scrutineer appointments at the AEC. Volunteers can turn up with an appointment form linking them to a candidate on polling day.

One Nation, Reignite Democracy Australia, Informed Medical Opinions Party, and the United Australia Party did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

Voter fraud allegations spun by political parties

While voter fraud conspiracy theories have been widely shared by fringe groups, major parties have tended to avoid the topic.

That is until earlier this month, when Queensland Liberal National Party senator James McGrath amplified voter fraud conspiracies during an interview with Alan Jones.

Jones quoted a 2016 figure as evidence that multiple voting was rampant in Australia, stating more than “18,000 people have been asked to explain why they apparently voted more than once at the federal election”.

Senator McGrath stated in the interview that the truth was “actually scarier”.

“In the federal seat of Herbert, which we lost by 37 votes, there were 200 cases of multiple voting in that state and the AEC made the decision not to prosecute anyone,” the senator told Jones.

The AEC said those figures were incorrect and only 42 cases of possible multiple voting were referred to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in 2016, with “33 of those attributable to polling place error”.

“We do not know where the senator is drawing the number 200 from,” an AEC spokesperson said. “The AFP determined that there was insufficient evidence to identify any instances of intentional multiple voting.”

In the 2019 federal election, the AEC identified just 2,102 voters whose names appeared to have been marked off the electoral roll more than once. This was approximately 0.014 per cent of the 15 million people who voted.

A spokesperson for Senator McGrath did not respond to questions about the source of the figures. 

Importing election fraud narratives from the United States

Some minor party candidates have also linked scrutineering to baseless claims about election fraud, often by directly importing narratives and content from the United States and adapting them to the Australian electoral process.

On Telegram, former Liberal politician turned One Nation candidate George Christensen has promoted an American documentary that shares false allegations of voter fraud during the 2020 US presidential election. 

Experts have said the movie relies on “faulty assumptions, anonymous accounts and improper analysis of cellphone location data” to make its claims.

In the post, Mr Christensen linked the documentary to the need to “ensure the integrity” of Australian elections and encouraged his more than 27,000 subscribers to become scrutineers for their “pro-freedom party candidate”.

When contacted by the ABC, a One Nation candidate said the need for scrutineers was due to anticipated voter fraud because “we know that there’s every chance something is going to go down”. 

First Draft’s Ms Chan said despite a lack of evidence, this was a unifying narrative for some minor parties.

“Since these parties can’t campaign with runs on the board for major issues such as the economy, NDIS and climate change, they’re adopting and building these narratives instead,” Ms Chan said.

“As we as humans naturally react to and remember the negative, it’s an easy tactic to use.”

Some scrutineer call-outs are not clearly associated with a political party. 

In Telegram groups associated with Australia’s anti-lockdown movement, call-outs for scrutineers said they were the “last line of defence” and that this was the “last shot to defend against the tyrannical Liberal and Labor machine”.

A man whose number was shared on the request declined to answer questions.

The seeding of election fraud narratives has also focused on postal voting in recent weeks.

The AEC is expecting an increase in early voting and postal voting at this year’s federal election. At the last election in 2019, more than 30 per cent of turnout was at early polling centres, up from 22 per cent in 2016.

In late April, the AEC warned Pauline Hanson’s One Nation after the party shared a video that referenced false claims about deceased people voting and postal votes being stolen out of letterboxes. 

It also incorrectly claimed that the 2010 election was swayed by electors fraudulently submitting multiple ballots, and called for laws to be passed that would force voters to show ID at the ballot box.

During the 2020 US presidential election, social media was flooded with baseless claims that individuals had seen ballots tossed out, or that ballots were not being counted by voting machines for being marked with pens rather than pencils.

The most high profile of these claims concerned Dominion voting machines, and the allegation that they had switched or deleted votes — which the company behind the devices repeatedly denied.

There have been attempts to import this narrative into Australia since 2021. Individuals, as well as social media accounts associated with the Great Australia Party, have suggested the machines will be used during the upcoming federal election — a claim repeatedly debunked by the AEC.

On its disinformation register, the AEC states that Australian electoral law “does not allow for voting machines to be used”.

“Australian politicians repeating voter fraud narratives can contribute to general distrust towards the authorities, undermine the legitimacy of candidates or parties as well as the integrity of the election,” Ms Chan warned.

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