Wagga informal votes rise to highest level since 1995

Informal votes are those considered uncountable by officials and include ballots that are blank or express unclear preferences under the rules established by the relevant electoral commission.

High rates of informal votes or low participation are typically regarded as signs of voter disillusionment.

CSU political science expert Dominic O'Sullivan said there were two primary reasons people lodge informal votes - because they don't understand how to vote, or because they are protesting about available candidates.

"Lodging an informal vote as a form of protest is a totally legitimate political decision," Professor O'Sullivan said.

"If people are lodging informal votes because they don't know how to vote though ... that's very troubling."

The 1590 informal ballots tallied in the Wagga electorate so far this election represents 3.5 per cent of the total votes - the highest since the slow collapse of the Greiner/Fahey governments in the early 90s.

"It's more or less in line with what we're seeing elsewhere," Professor O'Sullivan said.

"Although with the diversity of candidates in Wagga, I would have expected it to be a little lower."

While Wagga's long-serving Liberal MP Joe Schipp was not implicated in the ICAC scandal that brought down then NSW premier Nick Greiner, general rebellion against a government viewed as past its prime likely contributed to the 14.9 per cent informal vote in 1991, and the 4.8 per cent informal vote in 1995.

Daryl Maguire's election in 1999 may have brought renewed confidence in the Coalition locally, but this was short-lived. Every year from his win to his defeat at the hands of independent Joe McGirr at the 2018 byelection saw the informal vote climb, and the turnout drop.

Voter turnout reached a low of 88.3 per cent at the byelection. This means more than one in 10 eligible to vote decided to cop a fine instead.

Informal votes and election day no-shows are important not only because they have the potential to turn the tide of close elections, but because political parties and candidates have the ability to turn those votes into cash.

The NSW Electoral Commission reimburses campaign spending on a "dollar per vote" basis for candidates and parties that receive more than 4 per cent of the primary vote in a given division. This is currently set at $4.66 per first preference for lower house candidates.

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The Wagga Greens crossed this threshold for the first time since 2015, making them eligible to claim.

The 1590 informal votes could have been worth an additional $7409.40 in the hands of local political candidates; a huge boon given the shoestring budgets many candidates ran on this cycle.

Professor O'Sullivan said this means a vote is never wasted.

"Of course a candidate won't win if they don't have enough votes - it's illogical to think otherwise," he said.

"It's democratically legitimate to lodge a protest vote, but I don't know if it's a particularly good strategy in the long run."

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