The Yes23 campaign has been asked to keep signs for the Yes vote coloured in purple and white away from Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) signage over fears they could “potentially mislead voters”.
Key points:
- The AEC was notified a sign for the Yes23 campaign had a similar colour scheme to their signage
- The Yes23 campaign has agreed to keep the signs apart, according to the AEC
- Early voting for the October 14 referendum began this week
The similarity in colour scheme between Yes23’s signs and AEC signs reading “voting centre” was noticed at one polling station on Monday.
This led to the AEC requesting the Yes23 campaign keep their purple and white signs away from “voting centre” signage, over fears some voters could conflate the two.
Support for Indigenous Australians
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“The combination of using purple and white colours in proximity to AEC signage could mislead a voter about the source of the signage, and by extension, the source of the message on the signage,” the AEC wrote in a statement.
“When we were alerted to this signage the AEC requested the Yes23 campaign to rectify the situation by ensuring their signs are not placed in the proximity of AEC voting centre signs.”
The AEC said the Yes23 campaign had agreed to keep those signs away from AEC signage.
Early voting in the Voice referendum began on Monday in the Northern Territory, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.
The ACT, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia had early voting begin on Tuesday.
