Labor's lead cut to 53 in Bass

THE Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) has confirmed that some voters in the marginal seat of Bass left polling booths without voting, because there were no ballot papers available, simply leaving their details with electoral staff so they wouldn't be fined.

As many as seven local polling booths ran out of ballot papers in Bass on election day including Corinella, Bass and Koo Wee Rup, but also reportedly Newhaven, Catani, Bayles and Grantville.

Since the Sentinel-Times first reported the problem last Sunday, the incident has attracted more attention with just 53 votes separating the main contenders, Labor’s Jordan Crugnale and the Liberals' Aaron Brown.

The VEC claims that only a "small number" of voters left without casting their ballots because of the lack of voting papers, but whether all those who didn't vote left their names, so as to avoid a fine, isn't known.

The Corinella and Bass halls are two of the polling booths confirmed by local residents as having run out of ballot papers and you can add Koo Wee Rup to that, reported by local residents earlier today but the Sentinel-Times has received reports that voting sites at Newhaven, Bayles, Catani and Grantville also ran out.

This has not been confirmed by the VEC.

The polling booths were resupplied, some more than an hour later, but by then voters had left the precinct.

One of the candidates in Bass, Brett Tessari, also a local shire councillor, confirmed reports that at least five polling booths ran out of papers, saying the election day incidents were an extraordinary fail by the VEC.

“That'd be like Grand Final Day, your biggest day, and you turn up without the footy jumpers,” said Mr Tessari.

“Like seriously, you've got one day to get it right. I can't believe this has happened to be honest.”

The problem was compounded by a lack of polling booth staff, contributing to long waits at voting centres, despite the fact that up to 50 per cent of people voted before election day.

The electorate is still too close to call with Labor incumbent Jordan Crugnale holding a slender lead of just 53 votes over Mr Brown after new votes were counted on Tuesday, November 29.

The Victorian Electoral Commission says after shortages were reported, replacement ballot papers were provided to each voting centre and voters were invited to wait or come back later.

“Voters were invited to wait for the replacements to arrive, or to return at a later time. A very small number of voters who did not wish to wait for replacement ballots to arrive opted instead to provide their details to the election staff onsite to ensure they were not fined for failing to vote," said a spokesperson for the VEC

"We are aware of this figure and therefore described it as 'very small'."

Meanwhile, in Upper House counting, for the five positions available in Eastern Victoria, Labor is likely to claim two seats for Tom Mcintosh and Harriet Shing, the coalition two seats for the Liberals’ Renee Heath and the Nationals’ Melina Bath, while Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Vic representative Jeff Bourman is likely to return or one of the other minor-party or independent candidates.

The results are unlikely to be known under the complicated voting system until December 13, ahead of the return of the Writs, by December 17 at the latest.

Mr Bowman says he's cautiously optimistic about the projections.

“It's still too early to call but on the basis of all the above the line votes, I will be doing okay. A lot of people, including us, have also run a below the line campaign, so it remains to be seen whether that will have any effect on the outcome or not,” he told ABC Gippsland Radio today.

There may, however, be no change to the margin in Bass with the VEC again concentrating on rechecks of existing votes, before new votes arrive by post or from voting centres in other electorates.

Many of these votes will go to the Centralised Activity Site in Melbourne and be added to the tally for Bass from there.

What happens today Tuesday, November 29

Early Votes Primary, 2CP and Recheck:

* Country Regions: Vote exchange delivered to CAS. Processing continues

* All Regions: Commence vote exchange primary, 2CP and recheck* counts at CAS. Complete rechecks in Eos

Ordinary Votes Primary, 2CP and Recheck:

* Complete rechecks* at Eos.

Absent Votes Primary, 2CP and Recheck

* Country Regions: Vote exchange delivered to CAS

* All Regions: Commence processing vote exchange at CAS (close seats prioritised)

Postal Votes Primary, 2CP and Recheck

* Extraction and primary, 2CP and recheck* counts for all Districts

Marked as Voted and Provisional Votes Primary, 2CP and Recheck

* Continue provisional vote checking and extraction (close seats prioritised).