The voting contribution of the influencer “Indigenous Voice to Parliament” backfires due to one small detail

A young influencer’s eagerness to support the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament may have backfired because of one small detail.

Sydney resident Claudia Bursill is among the millions of Australians who have already cast their votes ahead of Saturday’s referendum.

The marketing and social media manager shared a photo of her yes vote on the ballot paper at an early voting booth in Bondi Junction Pop culture meme account Miss Double Bay, which has almost 58,000 followers on Instagram.

She was soon horrified to learn from one of her followers who informed her that her vote could be deemed invalid after a simple mistake.

Claudia Bursill, also known as Miss Double Bay, was left red-faced after sharing her Voice vote with almost 58,000 followers

Ms. Bursill had inserted an exclamation mark after the word “Yes” in the mandatory field.

“Guys, I think I messed up!” she wrote in a follow-up Instagram story.

“Don’t put an exclamation mark or anything else in place of “yes” on your paper.”

However, others were quick to reassure her that the vote could still be counted.

“No, it’s still valid!” “Don’t worry,” they wrote in a message that Bursill also shared.

“But yes, it is better not to put any other markings in the field except YES.”

The Australian Electoral Commission says voters must write “yes” or “no” clearly in English in response to the referendum question.

Your vote may be deemed invalid after placing an exclamation mark on the ballot paper

Ticks or crosses and other symbols that “could open the formality of your vote to interpretation or challenge” are not welcome.

The AEC confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the commissioner’s approval of a tick as a yes vote, adding that the use of a cross could make it unclear what a voter intended.

“There is an opportunity to count a vote if the intent is clear – this is required by law,” a spokesman said.

“The problem with a cross is that in many forms that people in Australia and some other languages ​​use in everyday life, it represents a ‘tick’ indicating ‘yes’.”

“It therefore leaves it open to interpretation or challenge by an examiner.”

“A ‘check mark’ would also be open to interpretation and may not count, depending on how clearly that mark appears on the ballot.”

They confirmed that they could also accept a “yes” or “n” as a yes or no vote, but warned that this could also be considered informal if the handwriting was unclear.

Some supporters reassured Ms Bursill that her vote might still be counted