The first vote cast at polling station CLB in Central Leeward in the 2015 general election was by a police officer who was not registered to vote there.
This is according to the testimony of the presiding officer, Tammy Walters, of Clare Valley, on Tuesday, the final day of the hearing of oral evidence in the election petitions trials.
Walters told the court that the police officer had been assigned to work at the polling station.
She said the senior police officer who was in charge of the police station or of the district brought the officer of lower rank to the polling station and told her that the junior rank would be working there that day.
She told the court she was not sure what the senior officer was in charge of.
Walters told the court that the senior ranked officer asked her to allow the police officer to vote.
The presiding officer said she told the officer of senior rank that once the police officer’s name is on the voter’s list she would allow him to vote.
The police officer produced his ID and the poll clerk found his name on the voter’s list and the voter was allowed to vote.
She said she later realised that the police officer was not supposed to vote at her polling station.
Walter said she called the election officer who came and said that he went and removed the officer’s name from the other list to prevent him from voting in the other polling station also.
A ruling in the case could come by the end of March, the court has said.
Lard helip arwe. dis ya a gyet strainjaw an strainjaw.