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Election Integrity: Make sure our elections cannot be rigged

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The Australian National Audit Office is one of the best agencies in government. They do great work chasing down wasteful government spending and exposing poor management.

The few times they have looked at the conduct of our elections, like in 2015, the report card was a solid fail. They haven’t audited the conduct of our elections since then despite promising to.

Last night at Senate Estimates the Auditor General was very honest and upfront with me. He cannot confirm the Australian Electoral Commission has comprehensive performance standards for elections. He cannot assure the Australian people that the electoral systems are fit for purpose.

He did say that the way for the community to be assured about the integrity of elections is through the Parliament acting. One Nation’s Election Integrity Bill (read more) was written for this very good reason. Whatever happens in the next election, if it passes, the public can have confidence in the result.

Parliament must pass an election integrity bill before the next election.

Transcript

Senator Rice, Senator Roberts, very quickly.

Thank you chair, and thank you all for attending. Hello Mr. Heir. I’ll just give some background, and then the questions will be quick.

Very quickly, Senator Roberts.

If I can reference the report titled third follow-up audit into the Australian electoral commission’s preparation for the conduct of federal elections. It’s ANAO audit number 6 2015-16. This inquiry was called by the joint standing committee on election electoral matters. The terms of reference were a performance audit focusing on the adequacy of the Australian electoral commission’s implementation of recommendations arising from earlier, and they are audit reports. Your findings were and I’ll quote, no meaningful action has been taken had been taken prior to 2013. The election that triggered the audit in relation to those recommendations directed towards more secure reporting of election night counts on the development of comprehensive or the development of comprehensive performance standards for the conduct of elections. And finally, conclusion number eight, ANAO plans to undertake a follow-up audit following the next federal election to examine adequacy and effectiveness of the AECs implementation of these 10 recommendations in that report. Did you do that followup audit?

We did. We didn’t do a followup, followup audit Senator of exactly that nature. We did a further audit, which was, which was focused on particular aspects of procurement, including IT, for the scanning system system following the next election. But now we didn’t follow up each of those recommendations as was then proposed.

Thank you. Can you confirm that the AEC now has comprehensive performance standards for the conduct of federal elections?

No, Senator we haven’t been in there to conduct a performance audit in this space since that, that one I mentioned. So, no, we don’t, we don’t, we don’t have current knowledges as to that know.

I like your quick answers. How, how would anyone know if that would, if they’d done that?

I suspect you’d ask them in estimates.

We’ve asked them lots of times and their questions are their answers. Why didn’t you do the follow-up audit? That would have been the fourth followup audit on the AEC.

I think we, what we decided to do was in the context of what was going on in the, in the office at the time, which was the IT procurement, that that was probably a, a better order to undertake in the AEC. It’s not a huge agency. It’s not the one. We go into every year. So, so about picking the topic. And at that particular time we thought that was that that procurement audit was a, a better topic to undertake.

Can you say with confidence that the AEC systems now are fit for purpose?

We haven’t been into the entity.

How can people be assured of the integrity of future elections?

I think through the parliamentary processes is the appropriate way for the community to be assured through the oversight. The parliament gives of the, the office.

I could make a comment. Do you not against you? Do you have the authority to audit?

Yes, I say yes.

Okay. My last question chair, in your submission to the finance and public administration’s inquiry into my Commonwealth electoral amendment integrity of elections, bill 2021. ANAO made this statement, I quote in accordance with the auditor General’s mandate under the auditor general act, 1997, the auditor general is empowered to conduct a review of a particular aspect of the operations of the AEC at any time. ANAO could have conducted a followup audit in respect to the AEC’s noncompliance with multiple ANAO audits. Yet you chose not to why I?

Think of.

If there were multiple audits.

We were doing.

My multiple follow-up audit. Sorry.

We did multiple followup audits then the last audit we did, I made a decision that the.

Not follow up at the specific electronics.

Yeah. That was the reason.

Will you audit the next election.

I.

Was seen it also understanding it through. The first three follow-up audits followed what happened in the 2013 election with Senate Ballot Papers in Western Australia being effectively lost. And whilst there are three audits that audit was conducted the then audit general received a specific request from the joint standing committee of electoral matters for us to do follow-up audit work, looking at an earlier audit we did have the 2007 election as to where those recommendations have been implemented. The only reason there were three followup audit wasn’t was because the joint standing committee of electoral matters, wanted us to one of particular things looked at very quickly. And so that’s why there were three performance audit. So we packaged up what are the recommendations we could follow up as a higher priority in a shorter timeframe and then a medium timeframe and then longer timeframe. So it was, it was by seen. By three audit was really packaging out the follow-up to that all the way earlier audit report, to meet a request of the parliament, So, you know.

So as Mr. Hare said, it’s, it’s a matter of looking at the, what the followup is in context of what’s going on. Okay. Thanks, Chair.

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Ensuring Election Integrity – Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Integrity of Elections) Bill 2021

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When I started researching election integrity I was doing it to show that our elections are secure. That is not what I found. There is no requirement to audit the results and no ID requirements to ensure there is no double voting. Our electoral legislation is full of holes. My bill seeks to fix those holes using audits that many well researched committees, agencies and investigations have already suggested. There really isn’t much reason to vote against it.

Transcript

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia I present the the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Integrity of Elections) Bill 2021, which amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.

This bill provides for the routine auditing of the electronic component of Australian federal elections and for the provision of voter identification.

It should also be noted that this bill does not look backward to previous elections, but rather forward to ensure confidence in the next election.

During COVID the actions of unelected bureaucrats and incompetent politicians has wiped out small businesses and jobs, disrupted lives and reduced many people to desperation.

The next election will be a powder keg.

It is essential to ensure that Australians can accept the result and move on.

Suspicion of the outcome can be easily fueled, especially on social media, and turned into violence by those who seek to manipulate the result for their own ends.

The level of trust in the result must be commensurate with the current heightened level of risk.

When I started researching election integrity it was to show that our elections are secure. That is not what I found.

The Australian National Audit Office conducted three audits into the 2013 federal election. Their final report came out in 2016. This is what ANAO said about the Australian Electoral Commission (the AEC):

In 2014 the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters wrote to the Auditor General seeking a performance audit focusing on the adequacy of the Australian Electoral Commission implementation of recommendations arising from earlier ANAO audits of the AEC.

The Auditor General decided to conduct 3 related performance audits.

All three reports found that the AEC had not adequately and effectively implemented the earlier ANAO recommendations. The reports concluded that in order to protect the integrity of the Australian electoral system and rebuild confidence in the AEC these recommendations should be implemented.

AUDITOR-GENERAL REPORT NO. 6 OF 2015–16

The report went on to say:

“ANAO plans to undertake a follow-up audit following the next federal election, in 2016, to examine the adequacy and effectiveness of the AEC’s implementation of the ten recommendations made by ANAO across three reports.”

AUDITOR-GENERAL REPORT NO. 6 OF 2015–16

Those recommendations included:

“the AEC must develop a strategy for deeper reform to ensure and demonstrate integrity in all aspects of the election, including a fundamental overhaul of the AEC’s policies and procedures to restore confidence in the electoral process”.

AUDITOR-GENERAL REPORT NO. 6 OF 2015–16

Let me say that again – a fundamental overhaul to ensure election integrity.

Mr President the follow-up audit to test how well the AEC implemented this fundamental review into election integrity never occurred.

Perhaps someone should do a bill to bring on that audit. Oh wait Mr President, I did.

Were ANAO happy for this direction – apparently not.

In their submission to this bill ANAO said my bill was not necessary as they had the power to audit the AEC at any time.

If that is the case then they should get on with it.

Mr President New South Wales and Western Australia have provisions in their electoral acts to audit state elections.

New South Wales conducts an audit before each election to ensure systems are fit for purpose and then audits again after each election to ensure integrity, and to see what can be improved for next time.

Western Australia audits after every election.

There is no audit function currently specified in the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.

This bill creates a function for the Auditor General to audit the operation of the AEC twice in each election cycle:

  1. In the lead up to the election; and
  2. From polling day to the declaration of the poll.

 The audit provided for in this bill covers electronic measures, and tests if:

“the use of authorised technology produces the same result as would be obtained without the use of authorised technology.”

Put simply this is asking the Auditor General to ensure that the use of computerised voter rolls, tallying, preference allocations and related matters produced a result that accurately reflects the will of the people.

ANAO felt that was too high a bar to meet, I would consider ensuring the will of the people was accurately reflected in the result was the bare minimum for any election audit.

This bill does not specify what will be audited. The decision regarding the operation of the audit is best left to the agencies conducting the audit.

Secondly, this bill authorises the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to audit and monitor computer systems for unauthorised access internally and externally.

This is targeting both unauthorised access from within the system and unauthorised external access by malicious entities.

The Australia Signals Directorate is currently conducting a cyber “uplift program” at the Australian Electoral Commission. While the program is most welcome, there is no basis in the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 or the Intelligence Services Act 2001 for that program.

This bill brings legislation into line with current practice.

Mr President In May Senate estimates I asked the Australian Electoral Commission simple questions regarding their auditing. I was assured that audits are occurring. On no occasion then or since have the following questions been answered:

  • Who conducted the audit?
  • When was the audit conducted?
  • What was audited?
  • What was the result?
  • Have any changes been made as a result of the audit?

It is disturbing that such an audit could happen behind closed doors without direction or structure. It is more disturbing that this program has no legal basis in the Commonwealth Electoral Act.

We should not have to rely on the admirable conscientiousness of the Australian Signals Directorate. We should be able to rely on the completeness of our legislation.

Mr President I also looked at other issues around election integrity.

First up was a simple question: At the Senate Scanning Centre is the electronic data file containing each vote ever compared back to the paper ballot after the vote has been adjudicated?

That answer is no. At no time is the electronic record of a vote checked back against the paper ballot once the ballot is adjudicated.

Some disputed votes are held back and adjudicated later in the counting process, then filed away.

There is no routine sampling beyond that point. That is not acceptable.

The third part of my bill is for voter ID. Most of the recommendations in the ANAO report, that was never followed up, went to failures in the integrity of voter rolls.

It is too late to go back now and audit those rolls before the next election, by way of re-commencing residency checks, as ANAO recommended.

It is not too late for a quick fix – which is voter ID. Asking for simple identification will act as an audit on the rolls in real time, and ensure every vote cast was legitimate.

This is not my idea. Recommendation 21 of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters Inquiry into the 2019 Federal Election called for voter identification to be introduced. This same finding was made in 2016 and 2013.

Schedule 2 of this bill is drafted to give effect to the committee recommendation as literally as possible.

Voters must present a form of acceptable identification to be issued with an ordinary pre-poll or election day vote. Authorised identification must be suitably broad so as to not actively prevent electors from casting an ordinary ballot.

This bill allows a wide range of acceptable voter ID. The AEC is empowered to make further regulations to ensure voters are not disenfranchised.

The AEC noted in their submission to the JSCEM inquiry that:

“multiple voting is frequently the subject of media commentary and social media speculation. Such a degree of focus is entirely understandable: there can hardly be a more emblematic component of trust in electoral results than ensuring eligible voters only exercise the franchise [appropriately].”

Multiple voting is a red herring in this debate. My bill is not concerned with multiple voting, it is concerned with ensuring every vote cast was made according to law.

The Commonwealth Electoral Act (Integrity of Elections Bill) 2021 is about protecting confidence in our elections.

The cyber integrity of our elections and the use of voter identification is essential to that confidence.

I recommend the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Integrity of Elections) Bill 2021 to the Senate.

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