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No photos, no copies: The strict rules for 792 ballot papers produced in the battle for Bradfield
The legal teams for Bradfield teal MP Nicolette Boele and Liberal hopeful Gisele Kapterian will each have three days to trawl through 792 contested ballot papers, as part of a challenge over the validity of the result in the ultra-marginal northern Sydney seat.
The Australian Electoral Commission has made the ballots available to the Federal Court ahead of a hearing on October 2, which will examine whether some papers were wrongly rejected in the final recount of the once-blue-ribbon seat while others were incorrectly allowed.
Lawyers for Gisele Kapterian (left) and Nicolette Boele will have access to hundreds of ballots from Bradfield.Credit: Nine
Kapterian in July lodged a petition with the High Court, which sits as the Court of Disputed Returns to hear election challenges, in a bid to be declared victorious in Bradfield instead of Boele, who won the former Liberal-held seat at the May election by just 26 votes.
Kapterian believes some 56 ballot papers were wrongly rejected, while 95 were incorrectly allowed.
The High Court has referred the matter to the Federal Court, which on Friday gave orders for how Boele and Kapterian’s legal teams can access the ballots, which are usually seen only by the AEC.
Kapterian’s legal team will be able to inspect the papers over three days next week, strictly between the hours of 10am and 5pm with a senior AEC staff member in attendance. Boele’s lawyers will have the same access to the ballot papers the following week.
The order says the ballots, which will be numbered 1 to 792, “must not be marked in any way, photocopied or photographed or removed from the room in which the inspection is conducted”.
The lawyers for both sides will be required to identify which ballot papers they have issues with and submit short statements on why they agree or disagree with the initial decision made by the Australian Electoral Officer, the senior staff member who made the final rulings on disputed ballots.
A one-day hearing has been set down for October 2, with orders to be made at a later date as well as the issue of costs.
The NSW Liberals have agreed to provide Kapterian indemnity against costs in the event she loses the challenge, while Boele is seeking donations from her Bradfield supporters, though she has vowed to return them or pass them on to a nominated cause if she is not required to pay costs.
Bradfield, now the most marginal federal seat in the country, was a rollercoaster ride for Kapterian and Boele from the moment the polls closed on May 3.
Boele, who also ran in 2022, was ahead on election night, but Kapterian ultimately edged in front and won the first count by just eight votes. Under the AEC rules, for any result where the margin is 100 votes or fewer, an automatic recount is ordered.
At the end of that recount, by which time most ballots had been counted seven times, Boele was ahead by 26 votes. She was declared the winner and was sworn into parliament.
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