Election 2020: Voters referred to police for allegedly flouting rules

Two people may face court action after allegations of voting irregularities in the 2020 general election. Photo / Bevan Conley

Within days of advanced voting starting, two people have already been referred to police over allegations of serious electoral breaches.

The Electoral Commission has released a statement saying it has referred one person to the police after they claimed to have voted multiple times in this year's general election.

And even before advanced voting began another person was referred to police after providing a false statement in an application to enrol as a voter.

Advanced voting started on Saturday across the country, with a record-busting 165,180 votes cast in the first two days.

In a brief statement, the Electoral Commission said it was an offence under the Electoral Act to vote more than once. It was also illegal for a person to make a false statement in any application, certificate or information supplied when enrolling to vote.

The Electoral Commission said as these matters were now with the police, it would not be commenting further.

During the last general election, 37 people were referred to the police who appeared to have voted more than once.

The commission also referred four incidents to police after complaints about sharing social media content on election day, including two by the then communications director of The Opportunities Party, Sean Plunket.

In 2014, the commission referred 126 voters to the police for voting twice in the general election.