Numerous votes have been quarantined in one of NSW's most marginal seats after a volunteer working for a political party issued ballot papers to Strathfield voters in an election day bungle.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The NSW Electoral Commission said it was aware that a person who was "not employed by the commission" issued ballot papers at the polling booth in western Sydney.
A spokeswoman for the commission said on Saturday that the blunder was "due to an administrative error".
"The NSW Electoral Commission has taken steps to isolate the ballot papers issued during this time period," the spokesman said.
"The [commission] will count these ballot papers separately and their status will be determined in due course."
The number of votes involved will be determined during counting.
The spokesman would not be drawn on how many ballot papers were affected, however, it is understood about 300 ballot papers have been quarantined.
Sitting Labor MP Jodi McKay retained the seat with 44 per cent of the first preference vote on Saturday night.
Earlier, Ms McKay said she understood up to three boxes of votes could be involved in the mishap.
"The returning officer I believe let them in and they had five hours or so actually working with votes," she told the ABC.
"I understand that there are three boxes of votes which could determine the result of my seat which have been quarantined and may not be counted tonight."
-with AAP
