A dentist has revealed why her vote in the Voice referendum ended up being a massive fail – and now fears she may “cop a fine”.
Student dentist Ellie Felmingham took to TikTok over the weekend to share how her postal vote in the Voice to Parliament was actually returned to her address instead of being sent to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
The young Gold Coast woman explained that she would not be where she needed to be on the day to cast her vote in person, so opted for a postal vote instead.
Postal votes are sent out to participants ahead of time and include a handy return envelope to make it easy to fill out the form and send back to the AEC.
However in order to be completed correctly, the return address needs to be visible on the outside from the clear window on the envelope – something that can easily be overlooked by accident when in a hurry.
Ellie revealed that instead of the correct return address being visible, she accidentally positioned the form so that her own address appeared on the outside instead, meaning it was eventually sent back to her home.
She is now sharing her mistake to help others not make the same error in the future.
“Sometimes I like to think I’m very smart, and then things like this happen,” she joked.
“We had a referendum vote, and I had to do a postal vote, because I was not going to be where I had to be to vote.
“I sent my thing and it got sent back to me, and I couldn’t figure out why it was sent back to me. Part of me was like, did I just accidentally put this in my own mailbox instead of sending it away? But I knew I put it in the postal box.”
Ellie then realised the simple mistake she had made when posting her vote, which caused her to get it sent back to her.
“I realised that I put it in back to front, with my name and my address on the front,” she explained.
“I posted it to myself instead of the government. Now, I’m going to cop a fine for not voting.”
People in the comments sympathised with her situation, with many expressing that they had made similar errors while voting.
Others let her know that she could still post her vote, as the AEC must receive them by the 13th day after voting day, meaning the 26th of October is the date when all postal votes must be received.
The Voice to Parliament did not pass, with all states and territories besides the ACT voting no.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said while the result was “not one I had hoped for, I absolutely respect the decision of the Australian people and the democratic process that has delivered it”.
“When we reflect on everything happening in the world today, we can all give thanks that here in Australia we make the big decisions peacefully and as equals, with one vote, one value.”
An emotional PM said his government fulfilled his promise to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart by taking the question to the public.
“I never imagined or indeed said that it would be easy,” he said.
“Very few things in public life worth doing are. Nor could I guarantee the referendum would succeed. History told us that only eight out of 44 had done so. What I could promise was that we would go all in, that we would try, and we have.”
Mr Albanese says he accepts responsibility for the outcome.
“The proposition we advanced at this referendum was about listening to people in order to get better outcomes, and these principles are what will continue to guide me as Australia’s 31st Prime Minister,” he said.
“Our government will continue to listen to people and to communities. Our government will continue to seek better outcomes for Indigenous Australians and their children and generations to come.
“This is not only in the interests of Indigenous Australians. It is in the of all Australians to build a better future for our nation.”