Referral to the Police - 2 October 2017
On 2 October 2017, the Electoral Commission referred four incidents to Police in response to complaints about social media content on election day.
Two of the incidents concerned the Communications Director for a political party, Sean Plunket, and two involved other persons/organisations publishing or sharing statements on election day before 7pm in breach of section 197(1)(g)(i) of the Electoral Act 1993.
As these matters are now with the Police, the Electoral Commission will not be commenting further.
More information about the election day rules and the use of social media at elections can be found at the following links: advance voting and election day rules for the 2017 General Election and social media guidelines.