A Chinese candidate was elected to the City of Adelaide Council as a result of illegal practices related to postal ballots involving foreign students, a South Australian court has found.
Jing Li, who came to Adelaide as an international student himself, was the fourth Central Ward councillor elected in November 2022 poll, finishing just 24 votes ahead of former councillor Alexander Hyde, who subsequently challenged his loss in a Court of Disputed Returns petition filed against Mr Li and the Electoral Commissioner.
On Friday District Court Judge Michael Burnett found that “illegal practices have occurred which have affected the result of the election” but asked for submissions to be made by all parties before deciding whether to make an order declaring the election void.
International students are allowed to vote in City of Adelaide council election as long as they are over 18 and have been a resident for longer than one month, and the court heard that Mr Li’s campaign legally encouraged Chinese students and other members of the Chinese community to enrol ahead of the election.
But Judge Burnett found that allegations that persons acting on behalf of Mr Li “acted as an assistant to a person voting at the election contrary to s 61(1) of the Elections Act” were made out in two instances.
One involved two unidentified Chinese men photographed outside an apartment building holding ballot papers, and another was in relation to another two Chinese men – William Bai and Keith Jin – dealing with 10 ballot papers at a restaurant.
Those two instances also substantiated allegations “that persons, acting on behalf of [Mr Li], had in their possession postal voting papers (which had not been issued to them as an elector in their own right)” as did another man named Trinity Zhang’s collection of unfilled ballot papers from apartments, Judge Burnett found.
Judge Burnett further found that the actions of the two unidentified men, Mr Zhang, and 16 other persons whose ballot papers “were not filled in by them” breached three other sections of the Elections Act.
“The allegations that persons had dishonesty exercised a vote at an election (contrary to s 58(1) of the Elections Act), made a statement in the voting declaration that was, to that person’s knowledge false or misleading in a material respect (contrary to s 64(1) of the Elections Act) and voted or made a mark on a ballot paper, not being the ballot paper issued to the person (contrary to s 64(2) of the Elections Act) were made out,” the judge said.
However, Judge Burnett dismissed a separate allegation against Mr Li that he had engaged in bribery, and no criminal charges have been laid.
Mr Hyde, who is the state director of the SA Liberal Party, called the result a “win for democracy” but said it also raised serious questions about election integrity, The Advertiser reported.
“This judgement, among other things, means that a capital city election in Australia was [affected] through illegal activities involving predominantly Chinese foreign nationals,” he said.
“It has serious implications. Throughout the trial we even heard the testimony that the Chinese consulate in Adelaide was approached for assistance in the election.”
The judgement also revealed that turnout for the 2022 election was up 40% in the Central Ward, and that some voters were casting their ballots based on ethnicity.
One Chinese property investor gave evidence that he was asked by a Miranda Li (no relation to Jing Li) on WeChat if he had voted for Mr Li, and their conversation provided to the court showed he told her he voted for “just the Chinese candidates. Don’t really know them”.
He later reiterated: “I voted for Chinese candidates even though I don’t know them.”
Independent MP Frank Pangallo said the Electoral Commission had spent more then $400,000 fighting the case, and has introduced legislation to make Australian citizenship and voting compulsory in local government elections.
“We should be deeply concerned this sort of fraudulent activity could occur – concerns which I raised about the integrity of elections being compromised by allowing foreign students renting in the CBD and elsewhere to have voting rights after just 30 days of residence,” Mr Pangallo said.
Last year Lebanese immigrant Milad El-Halabi, 60, was fined $20,000 and given an 18-month community corrections order in the Melbourne County Court after admitting tampering with the Merri-bek (then called Moreland City) Council election in 2020, which was also conducted by mail.
Header image: Left, Jing Li (City of Adelaide). Right, a photo shown to the court of unidentified Chinese men holding ballot papers.
