A high-stakes recount is underway in the Victorian seat of Menzies after more than 1,800 votes for Liberal MP Keith Wolahan mysteriously disappeared overnight, raising questions about the integrity and transparency of the 2025 federal election count.
Wolahan, a prominent rising star in the Liberal Party, now trails Labor’s Gabriel Ng by 1,384 votes. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) confirmed a discrepancy between two vote tallies at a Doncaster East polling booth—initially crediting Wolahan with 8,817 votes on Saturday night, before revising the figure down to 6,996 after a second count at 1.30am Sunday.
It is reported that the first tally was conducted in the presence of Liberal scrutineers and signed off at 10.30pm, while the later revision occurred after most scrutineers had left. The Liberal Party is not alleging foul play, but is now supervising a formal recount and demanding answers about how such a significant discrepancy occurred.
The AEC described the issue as a “transcription error” and insisted it was “quickly rectified” during routine scrutiny. “It’s not unusual for the AEC to make corrections as we continue with the counting process,” a spokesperson said.
Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope also addressed public concerns about the vote-counting process, emphasising the scale and complexity of the operation.
“It’s been two and a half days since the polls closed for the 2025 federal election, and the count continues to progress in AEC counting centres across the country,” Pope said in a statement on AEC website.
He revealed that since polls closed, AEC staff had counted:
- First preferences for 14.1 million House of Representatives ballot papers (including more than 1 million postal votes)
- Two-candidate-preferred (TCP) counts for 11.8 million House ballot papers
- First preferences for 7.2 million Senate ballot papers
- Approximately 1.3 million ballot papers transported back to home divisions using 4,800 transport routes
“On election night we counted more votes in a single night than has ever occurred in Australia’s electoral history,” Pope said. “We understand the external focus on close seats and we prioritise further counts in those contests where we can.”
He warned that many declaration votes—including postal, interstate and overseas ballots—are still en route to their local divisions and cannot be counted until they arrive. “Secure transport takes time and our motto is always ‘right, not rushed’.”
The AEC also confirmed that “fresh scrutiny”—a mandatory secondary count of all previously counted votes—has now begun. While usually only resulting in minor changes, fresh scrutiny can bring clarity in seats where TCP contests have been reset, such as in Menzies.
Meanwhile, the AEC has also admitted to a separate error in Melbourne, where the two-party preferred count was initially calculated between the Greens and Liberals instead of the more competitive contest between the Greens and Labor.
The decision threw the race into chaos, with both Greens leader Adam Bandt and Labor’s Sarah Witty claiming strong performances. “We made the wrong call on which candidates to include in the two-party preferred count,” an AEC spokesperson admitted as per news.com.au.
Despite current figures showing Labor with a 55% lead in the revised TCP count, Bandt is not conceding. “It’s not over,” a Greens source said was quoted in news.com.au.
Labor insiders say their strong performance in postal votes may overcome Bandt’s election-day lead, but acknowledge they “just don’t know” due to the earlier AEC error.
With postal votes still being processed and declaration vote counts ongoing, many key contests remain in flux—and the final outcome in several battleground seats may not be known for days.
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