Postal votes in Australia’s $122million same-sex marriage survey have been sent out to people who have died.
Households in Canberra have reported receiving forms addressed to former tenants who are deceased, some who passed almost a decade ago.
The Australian Electoral Commission is responsible for the survey’s roll and is meant to receive updates from the Births, Deaths and Marriages registry to remove those who had died.
Postal votes in Australia’s $122million same-sex marriage survey have been sent out to people who have died, including this one to a home in Canberra
The organisation said that ‘an update on recent deaths was obtained by the AEC to account for the close of rolls for the marriage survey,’ according to the Canberra Times.
Catherine Beasley was among those who discovered their homes had been sent the form of a prior tenant who had passed, taking to Facebook to share one such letter.
‘Got our postal surveys. Including one for the former owner of the house… who died eight years ago,’ she captioned a photo of the unopened letter.
Her post drew a slew of responses online, with one annoyed user responding: ‘Oh ffs! Good to see the ABS are on top of things.’
Catherine Beasley was among those who discovered their homes had been sent the form of a prior tenant who had passed, taking to Facebook to share the letter (stock image)
It follows numerous problems that have plagued the survey since the votes were sent out earlier this month, including letters sent to former occupants and envelopes that had been stolen and opened (pictured)
Numerous problems have plagued the survey since the votes were sent out earlier this month, including letters sent to former occupants and envelopes that had been stolen and opened.
On Friday residents in the northern Sydney suburb of Mona Vale were left frustrated after 40 survey envelopes were found dumped in a rubbish bin.
The forms and their return envelopes were missing, with items of personal mail also found torn in half.
Similarly, many voters took to social media to report they had received extra mail, from residents who had moved out and failed to update their details.
While multiple forms had also been sent to some residents including Bruno Antunes who told Fairfax he had been sent two votes, both of which were addressed to him.
‘I posted one of them, I still have the other in a sealed envelope… I don’t think it’s very fair to vote twice, so I haven’t,’ he said.
The Australian Electoral Commission is responsible for the survey’s roll list and is meant to receive updates from the Births, Deaths and Marriages registry to remove those who had died (stock image)