The electoral commissioner has condemned a protest campaign during the 2019 federal election calling for voters to scratch the names of candidates off ballot papers and write slogans.
Australian Electoral Commission boss Tom Rogers told a parliamentary hearing the rate of informal votes rose for the House of Representatives election - from 5.05 per cent in 2016 to 5.54 per cent in 2019.
The key factors were voters who have English as a second language, the high number of candidates and proximity to state elections with different voting systems.
But Mr Rogers said misleading campaigns also played a role in effectively nullifying votes.
Under questioning by Queensland Greens senator Larissa Waters, the commissioner criticised the "no candidate to match my will" campaign run by Sydney activist Karen Brewer.
Ms Brewer urged voters to cross out the names of all candidates on a ballot paper and write the message.
"It is complete and utter nonsense," Mr Rogers told Senate estimates, adding that all such votes were declared informal.
"I personally did see votes like that. An intelligent person would not believe it."
He said it had a "low-level impact" but had been disappointingly "misleading".
Facebook was twice asked by the AEC to take down videos promoting the message and did so, but many other posts on a range of social media platforms were not taken down.
Meanwhile, the federal election is estimated to have cost voters at least $342 million, but the final cost has yet to be established.
The poll was the largest in Australia's history involving about 80,000 polling officials and other staff stationed across the world.
Australian Associated Press
