Single photo exposes massive Voice blunder as officials admit it’s ‘unacceptable’

Melbourne voters have been left outraged after queuing for hours to vote just moments before the Voice polls closed.

Queues wrapped around a polling station in Docklands as hundreds of voters were forced to queue for more than two hours.

Appearing on Sky News, Melbourne Deputy Mayor Nicholas Reece said there was chaos ‘unacceptable’.

“What we all agree on is that the administration of the voting process in a democracy needs to be done well and it’s been a real failure here in Melbourne,” he said.

“Especially given that we have compulsory voting in this country so we want to make it as easy as possible for them to vote, but we have long long queues in Melbourne because we didn’t have that booth second in the CBD.”

Hundreds of Melbourne voters were forced to wait more than two hours to cast their votes in the Vote for Parliament Referendum

Melbourne’s Deputy Mayor admitted the spectacle was ‘unacceptable’ and that the handling of the vote was ‘a real failure’ in the city.

One fed-up resident posted on social media that they queued for 90 minutes warning that the queue was ‘getting longer’.

‘Massive queue at Melbourne Docklands…been here an hour, maybe 30 minutes to go but worth it. And it’s FROZEN,” wrote another user on X.

One voter wrote that they only noticed one SEC staff member giving directions ‘occasionally’ halfway through the queue.

“It is evident in the videos posted online the absence of AEC staff abroad at the docklands,” a post on X said.

In response to online outrage from residents, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) said voting options in the city were difficult.

“We cannot always obtain facilities for an operation of this size and at short notice,” wrote an AEC spokesperson.