Duelling State, Federal campaign risks confusing WA voters, Electoral Commissioner Robert Kennedy warns

A Federal election campaign overlapping with WA’s poll would lead to significant voter confusion, the State’s independent electoral commissioner fears. Speaking to the media at the launch of the WA Electoral Commission’s election advertising campaign — Your vote goes a long way — commissioner Robert Kennedy said his organisation has been working with the AEC or the past six months to prepare for an early Federal poll. Amid uncertainty over the Prime Minister’s choice of election date, Mr Kennedy also recognised the Commission would be liable for additional costs if the March 8 State election had to be moved for a federal poll. Suggestions last year the Prime Minister would call an election in concert with the State poll prompted revelations Premier Roger Cook had sought legal advice on shifting WA’s election date. Refusing to be drawn on the legal argument around moving the date, Mr Kennedy said the WAEC and the AEC had been working through scenarios over election scheduling for most of last year. “We’ve certainly been doing a lot of planning and scenario preparation for the Federal Election falling around our time,” he said. “One of the big concerns from my point of view is that our message gets lost in amongst the Federal discussions, and it makes it hard to get the message out to electors. “They get confused — even at the moment, people don’t always understand that there are two bodies that run two different elections — so it is a risk. “But it’s one that we’re comfortable that we’ve looked into, and we’ve got some things in place.” Moving the date, should Mr Albanese call the Federal election for March 8, would carry an additional cost, Mr Kennedy said, but not by the magnitude of the total budget already set aside for running the poll of $40 million. Raising concerns about the need to engage voters amid both disinformation and misinformation during election campaigns, Mr Kennedy called on West Australians to check their enrolment details as a first step, and only trust credible sources, including the Commission. “It’s getting harder and harder for electoral commissions around the world to get their message out,” he said. “Electoral commissions are finding that people are disengaging from the political process.” Mr Kennedy’s comments came after The West Australian revealed Labor insiders were bracing for back-to-back election campaigns this year, believing Mr Albanese was planning to call an April poll in the immediate aftermath of March 8. Asked on Monday about the potential for State and Federal confusion, WA Premier Roger Cook said voters were “clever” “Everyone understands the difference between a Western Australian election and a national election. WA voters are clever. They’re smart. They understand these things. “We’ll undertake the campaign which is about state issues and which the Western Australian people can pay attention Mr Cook said there was only one person in Australia who knew when the Federal election would be called — “that’s the Prime Minister. My focus is on March 8, which will be the State election.” Applications for postal votes for the State Election have opened through the Electoral Commission’s website ahead of the official campaign starting in February.