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by Maxious 4353 days ago
This request came after an election in Australia where during a recount 1375 votes originally tallied were unable to be found http://www.aec.gov.au/media/media-releases/2013/e10-31.htm

An investigation was conducted http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/Reports_On_Fede...

Rather than a police force transporting a sealed box, a commercial courier company or volunteer with their own car moved what might not have even looked like an official box (perhaps a printing firm's box) which in the end might have been thrown out in the recycling or might have been maliciously removed as the warehouse doors were left open or when a single security guard was on duty overnight.

As Mr Keelty wrote: "There is less concern for the security and integrity of Senate ballots because it is considered that they have less of an impact on the election outcome and in any event are warehoused for six years. This is a cultural problem within the AEC and it needs to be addressed. The fact that it had been thirty years since the last full recount of Senate ballots most likely added to the loss of care in routinely dealing with those ballots during the election."