How do you vote in the referendum? The rules explained

Could the Voice ballot paper skew the result? Here's what you need to know.

Rules surrounding ticks and crosses on Voice referendum ballots have sparked controversy. But are they really fair? Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi

KEY POINTS

• The Australian Electoral Commission has rejected Coalition claims about the Voice ballot.
• Opposition leader Peter Dutton claims AEC rules are designed to 'skew' the vote towards a Yes result.
• A tick may count as a Yes vote, but a cross will be considered invalid.

The Australian Electoral Commission has flatly rejected claims that rules surrounding the Voice to Parliament vote could skew the result.

Laws meaning a tick will count as a Yes vote, but a cross will not count at all, have sparked anger among the Coalition and some conservative media outlets, who claim it would give the Yes camp an unfair advantage.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton is demanding crosses count as a No vote if ticks are considered a Yes vote, and says he's happy to back legislation to make that law.

Peter Dutton claims the rules are unfair. Source: AAP / Darren England

"It just seems to me that they're taking the opportunity to skew this in favour of the Yes vote when Australians just want a fair election, not a dodgy one," he told 2GB radio on Thursday.

But the AEC has hit back at the claims, and the Yes camp has decried them as an attempt to undermine confidence in Australian elections.

Here's what you need to know.

Is it compulsory to vote in a referendum?

All eligible Australian citizens aged 18 and older must be enrolled and vote in referendums, just like in federal elections.

This is not the case for plebiscites - such as the question on legalising same-sex marriage from 2017 - in which voting is not compulsory as the results do not change the constitution.

What are the instructions?

Referendum day may feel like a federal election. You'll go to a polling station. There might be a democracy sausage after.

The ballot paper itself will be very different - it'll come with a binary question, and a single box to fill out.

The Voice referendum ballot will come with clear instructions to write "Yes" or "No".

It'll be labelled with simple instructions: write either "Yes" or "No" in full, in English, in the box.

Following the instructions makes the vote 'formal', and that's the only way to guarantee your vote will count.

AEC spokesperson Evan Ekin-Smyth said voters will be left in no doubt about what to do on referendum day.

"The instructions are really clear," he told SBS News.

"They'll be on the ballot paper in a couple of different places: on the poster in the polling place, polling officials will tell you as they give you your ballot paper, in the guides that have been received in mailboxes across Australia at the moment in our advertising.

"I could go on and on."

What is a valid vote in the referendum?

Not following the instructions makes your vote 'informal', and at risk of being thrown out.

AEC boss Tom Rogers says some ticks could be counted as a Yes vote, but crosses will be considered invalid.

It's worth mentioning that these laws are not set by the AEC, and have been in place for decades without major problems.

The referendum ballots will be quite different to those used at a federal election. Source: Getty / Saeed Khan

Ekin-Smyth says it's also important to keep "scale in mind", because we're talking about tiny numbers.

At the last referendum, more than 99 per cent of voters filled in their ballot correctly.

"Many of [the 0.86 per cent of ballots which were informal] wouldn't have been related to ticks or crosses in any way at all," he said.

The rules come down to intent, and the AEC takes legal advice on how to apply them.

The laws mean informal ballots shouldn't be thrown out where possible, but it needs to be clear what the person was trying to vote for.

That means a simple "Y" will likely be counted as a Yes vote, and an "N" will likely be counted as a No vote.

But ticks and crosses are a bit murkier.

That's because people often use crosses on other forms - including on customs forms and ABS census forms - to mean 'yes'.

"The clear legal advice that we have got is that a tick is commonly accepted across Australia as indicating the affirmative, whereas a cross or a checkmark is used across Australia in a variety of forms," Ekin-Smyth said.

"[Sometimes] you do a check mark for the affirmative, but in many cases, you do a checkmark for the negative as well. So it can't be crystal clear."

What else is being said about the Voice referendum?

Coalition deputy leader Sussan Ley claims the meaning of a cross is "simple", and warned the current rules could particularly impact migrant communities.

"This is the modern era and we have a lot more Australians who don't speak English, and we want everyone to vote at this referendum," she said.

But the Yes camp has questioned why the Coalition did not raise the issue when parliament passed laws modernising referendum rules earlier this year.

Wayne Swan says he's disgusted by the claims. Source: AAP

Labor Party president Wayne Swan told the Today Show on Friday he was "disgusted" by the No camp peddling "complete rubbish".

"This is just the No case out there using the electoral system to try to discredit the Voice," he said.

"And in doing so, [they're] doing what many other right-wing parties around the world are doing: discrediting basic electoral arrangements. It is appalling."

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