Six Election Offences Every Voter and Volunteer Should Know

Vote buying and selling: offering, giving, receiving or soliciting money or any other inducement in exchange for a vote is an offence — for the person offering and the person accepting.

Photographing your marked ballot: phones are not allowed in the voting cubicle, because a photographed ballot is how a bought vote gets verified and paid for.

Impersonation and multiple voting: voting in another person's name, voting more than once, or trying to be accredited on a PVC that is not yours. Snatching or destroying materials: seizing or damaging ballot boxes, ballot papers or the BVAS.

Campaigning at the polling unit: canvassing, wearing party materials or displaying party symbols at or immediately around the unit on election day. Disorderly conduct: threatening voters or officials, or obstructing the process.

Penalties are set by the Electoral Act and should be read from its current text. For YFT members the message is simpler: we win at the ballot box, the right way — and members who know these rules are the ones best placed to spot when someone else breaks them.