‘This is ridiculous’: Fury as online polling system crashes on NSW election day leaving residents unable to vote
- Technical issues have plagued the New South Wales voting system on Saturday
- Frustrated voters have had trouble casting their ballot in the lead up to election
- NSW Electoral Commission has stressed that registration and voting is working
Some New South Wales voters have had trouble casting their ballot as issues plaguing the state’s electronic voting system ran into election day.
Technical issues began on Friday night but continued Saturday morning as thousands flooded iVote to register and cast their ballot.
Frustrated voters then turned to the telephone registration system, which itself was then overloaded, with some told to call back later.
Some New South Wales voters have had trouble casting their ballot as issues plaguing the state’s electronic voting system ran into election day (stock image)
Technical issues began on Friday night but continued Saturday morning as thousands flooded iVote to register and cast their ballot
However, the NSW Electoral Commission has stressed that registration and voting is working.
‘There have been some intermittent performance issues that have affected some electors,’ a spokeswoman said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.
‘We apologise for any inconvenience.
‘Some web browsers, for example, Google Chrome, appear to be working better than others.’
One voter living in the United Kingdom said she registered last week but had to call the NSW Electoral Commission 42 times on Saturday in an effort to get her iVote number.
‘It was a very, very painful process,’ Vanessa, who declined to give her surname,’ told AAP.
More than 220,000 votes had been submitted using iVote by midday on Saturday – including more than 32,000 since Friday 6pm
‘Once I was logged in, it was a relatively easy way to vote.’
‘The iVote site keeps crashing to an error message. This is ridiculous. In NYC. My wife has been trying to vote for an hour,’ one person said on Twitter.
Chrissy Symeonakis said she’d phoned multiple times on Friday night and Saturday morning before finally getting through about 10am.
‘I have multiple sclerosis, so getting to a polling booth isn’t easy for me at the moment as I’m currently undergoing new treatments,’ she said, adding she registered for iVote in February.
While ‘502 Bad Gateway’ errors were being displayed on Saturday morning, the iVote page was loading after 10am.
Applications for iVote closed 1pm but votes can be cast until 6pm.
More than 220,000 votes had been submitted using iVote by midday on Saturday – including more than 32,000 since Friday 6pm.
The system, which received more than 280,000 votes in the 2015 election, has been used since 2011.