Almost 20,000 people across the Illawarra and South Coast didn't have their vote counted at the recent federal election.
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That's because - either on purpose or accidentally - they cast an informal vote.
In the Gilmore electorate the number of informals - 5830 (or 5.2 per cent) was actually greater than the leading margin of Labor's Fiona Phillips.
As of Thursday, she was in front by 5668 votes.
Those informal votes, had they been cast correctly would have made for a much tighter race in the South Coast seat.
"I think the reality is there's always going to be informal votes," Ms Phillips said.
"I'm really happy with our result in Gilmore. We've made around 50,000 door knocks and phone calls during the campaign so we really tried to limit the number of informal votes that there are."
In Sharon Bird's seat of Cunningham slightly more people cast an informal vote - 5958 or 5.6 per cent of the electorate.
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The Whitlam electorate was the worst in the Illawarra with 7.2 per cent - or 7967 voters - casting informals.
Sitting MP Stephen Jones said this was indicative of the multicultural make-up of the seat.
"If you have a look around the country, those electorates with high multicultural background, high non-English speaking backgrounds, you'll get a higher level of informals in those circumstances," Mr Jones said.
He added that those who hand in a ballot paper "with dicks and other stuff drawn on it" don't make up the majority of informal votes.
Most are from people who try to cast a legitimate vote but incorrectly fill out the ballot paper.
"The overwhelming majority of informals are people who put just a one in there, or put ticks and crosses and that becomes invalid as a result," Mr Jones said.
"My scrutineers were telling me one of the biggest piles of informal votes were people who tried to vote for me but stuffed it up."
Mr Jones said the proximity to the state election, which has a different voting system, would have contributed to the large number of informals.
He said those people casting an informal as a protest vote were a problem for parties, which needed to ensure they were engaging with the electorate.
Improved education at the polling places would help those trying to cast a proper vote but failing.
While some people could cast an informal vote because they think it doesn't matter, Mr Jones said it didn't take a lot of votes to change an election.
"There are about half a dozen electorates around the country where the result is going to be determined by under 500 votes," he said.
"So that means 250 votes would have been the difference between who represents that seat and, in addition, who becomes the prime minister of this country.
"So a couple of hundred votes really does matter."
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
