In March 2022, South Australian electors voted to elect their representatives for the 55th Parliament of South Australia.
At the conclusion of the election, the Australian Labor Party won 27 seats in the House of Assembly and formed government. The Liberal Party won 16 seats, with independent candidates winning the remaining 4 seats. In the Legislative Council election, the Australian Labor Party won 5 seats, the Liberal Party won 4 seats, and the Greens and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation each won one seat.
Planning and delivering a state election is a complex and challenging undertaking in its own right. However, the 2022 State Election presented additional challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the potential for a federal election to be held around the same time, and uncertainty regarding the scope and timing of potential changes to the South Australian Electoral Act 1985 (the Electoral Act).
The election was held at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with tens of thousands of electors in quarantine or isolation. The Electoral Act, however, did not provide voting options for electors in isolation or quarantine. In response, ECSA requested the South Australian government make a regulation to allow electors in COVID-19 isolation or quarantine to be eligible to vote by post. After the close of postal voting applications, an innovative and unique strategy was implemented for COVID-affected electors to attend one of 22 established rapid antigen test (RAT) collection sites across South Australia to collect their voting pack, complete their ballot papers at home, and then return their ballots by post. Directions were issued under the Emergency Management Act 2004 authorising COVID-affected electors to leave home for these purposes. For those electors isolating in medi-hotels, ballot material was personally delivered to them.
These COVID-19 voting strategies were a significant undertaking completed with minimal time and preparation, and an example of South Australian government agencies working together to deliver positive outcomes for the state. I would personally like to thank Police Commissioner, Grant Stevens; Assistant Commissioner, Noel Bamford; Chief Executive Officer of the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission (SAFECOM), Julia Waddington-Powell; Metropolitan Fire Service, Station Officer, Adam Waller (in his capacity as Program Manager, Rapid Antigen Test Close Contact Program with SAFECOM); and Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, Dr Chris Lease from SA Health, for their valuable contributions. Without their assistance, over 25,000 eligible South Australians would not have been able to vote at the election.
A further challenge associated with the COVID-19 pandemic was ensuring the safety of electors and electoral officials.
A significant risk to the election was a potential low turnout due to the pandemic. In response, ECSA developed a comprehensive COVID-19 Management Plan, which included hygiene officers at every polling place, polling officials to be fully vaccinated, the wearing of masks, and various social distancing requirements in polling places. While these measures ensured a safe voting environment, the social distancing requirements reduced the number and flow of electors, which unfortunately led to queues forming at some polling places. These queues were unfortunate, particularly on polling day with warm temperatures; however, the measures were important to ensure the safety of all concerned.
The final turnout for the election was 89.2%, which was slightly down from the 91.1% turnout at the 2018 State Election; however, this was encouraging considering the COVID-19 environment.
The timing of the federal election also created challenges. Unlike the state election, which has a fixed date, the date of the federal election is determined by the prime minister and could have been held at any time up until May 2022. The South Australian Constitution Act 1934 provides that the state election could be deferred up to 21 days if a federal election is called in the same month. ECSA therefore had to take into consideration the possibility that the date for the state election could be changed at short notice. This presented significant challenges as contingencies were required at short notice to rebook over 700 premises, reallocate over 6,000 electoral officials, and develop an advertising campaign to advise the change of dates. Significant resources were required to develop these contingencies up until early February 2022 when it became evident the federal election would be held after March 2022.
The final major challenge was the uncertainty regarding the scope and timing of potential legislative changes to the Electoral Act. Following the tabling of the 2018 State Election Report in Parliament on 28 February 2019, the Electoral (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2020 was introduced on 23 July 2020; however, it was voted down in the Legislative Council on 16 March 2021. On 26 May 2021, the Electoral (Electronic Documents and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2021 was introduced into Parliament; however, it was not passed by the time Parliament was prorogued prior to the March 2022 election. These electoral bills included significant changes to the electoral process. Amendments to electoral legislation often involve changes to ICT systems, training, policies, and procedures, which require significant time to implement. The uncertainty regarding when or if these electoral bills would be passed, particularly as the election drew closer, led to significant challenges for the planning and delivery of the election.
Another further consequence of the electoral bills not passing is that South Australia has had no form of electoral legislative reform for several years. This report contains 19 major recommendations for legislative change that, if implemented, will deliver the electoral modernisation and reform that South Australia requires.
Some of the major recommendations include:
In addition to these recommendations for legislative change, this report includes a number of sections titled ‘Modernising electoral services’. Although these innovations do not require legislative change, they represent substantial improvements to how we conduct elections and would require additional funding.
They include:
While there was no legislative reform introduced, several innovations identified during ECSA’s evaluation of the 2018 State Election were successfully implemented for the 2022 State Election including:
To ensure electors and participants have confidence in our commitment to delivering high-quality electoral services, ECSA developed the 2022 State Election Servicer Charter. The Charter identified how ECSA was going to deliver the election, including key service standards and performance indicators. I am pleased that most targets were met or exceeded, including 97.8% of all eligible South Australians enrolled. Some targets were not met, such as the time taken to resolve complaints; however, this was attributed to a significant rise in the number of complaints received. ECSA’s performance against the Charter can be found at Appendix 1.
The overall elector satisfaction rating with ECSA’s conduct of the election was 89%. Ninety-five percent of electors were satisfied with the location of polling places; 84% were satisfied with the time it took to vote; and 92% were satisfied with the COVID-19 hygiene measures in place at polling places.
The 2022 State Election was the final election for one of South Australia’s most experienced electoral administrators, Deputy Electoral Commissioner David Gully. Mr Gully commenced with the then-named State Electoral Office in 1995 and will retire in July 2023. During this period, Mr Gully has provided a significant contribution to delivering democracy in South Australia through his involvement in numerous elections, including 7 state elections and 7 local government periodic elections, and contributions to the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission, including as a member.
As a final note, I wish to thank all the individuals and organisations that contributed to the 2022 State Election. These include ECSA staff and our thousands of electoral officials, but also many stakeholders such as community organisations, government agencies, candidates, party officials, registered officers, and suppliers. I express my sincere gratitude for everyone’s role in the successful delivery of the 2022 South Australian State Election.
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