Posts twist Australian electoral watchdog's message to encourage voting multiple times

"So it's ok to vote twice! I wonder how many they organised to do that?" reads a Facebook post from October 4.

It shows a screengrab of a message from the AEC responding to a social media user who asked how the agency would stop a person voting at more than one venue in the October 14 referendum on whether to recognise Indigenous people in the 1901 constitution for the first time.

The reform would create a "Voice" -- an Indigenous body with the right to be consulted about issues that affect the country's Aboriginal population who battle poorer health, lower incomes and higher barriers to education.

On polling day, voters can cast their ballot at any polling station in their state.

The AEC's message said: "If someone votes at two different polling places within their electorate, and places their formal vote in the ballot box at each polling place, their vote is counted."

"We cannot remove the vote from the count because, due to the secrecy of the ballot, we have no way of knowing which ballot paper belongs to which person. However, the number of double votes received is incredibly low."

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A screenshot of the misleading post, captured on October 11.

The screengrab was shared in similar Facebook posts, which claimed the AEC was "giving people permission" to vote multiple times.

"Vote as many times as you can," another post said.

However, a spokesperson for the AEC told AFP that voting multiple times in the same poll was an offence.

The electoral body also posted on October 4 that repeat voting was an offence under s130 of the Referendum Act & s339 of the Electoral Act. These acts have laid out potential punishments such as fines or imprisonment for a multiple voting offence (archived link here, here, here).

The AEC also posted that it would implement a "real-time" electoral roll mark-off at all pre-poll centres and many polling day booths.

The spokesperson told AFP that instances of multiple voting have "never been more than the margin in any electoral contest in the history of Australian federal elections and referendum".

Some 18,000 people -- out of 14 million votes cast -- were asked to explain why they apparently voted more than once at the 2016 federal election, according to the head of the AEC Tom Rogers during a Senate hearing (archived link).

The AEC spokesperson added that citizens who voted by mail, from overseas voting centres or outside of their home division had to cast a "declaration vote" that would "involve mark-off from the central roll with strict roll checks occurring".

"If they've been marked off the roll already then their vote is not admitted to the count and they’re marked as an apparent multiple voter."