If you’re wondering if something like this has happened before, the answer is yes. A candidate at the 2020 Merri-bek Council election was caught trying to rig the vote by mailing in multiple ballots.

Milad El-Halabi pleaded guilty to one count of tampering under the Local Government Act, after County Court judge Stewart Bayles indicated he would be spared prison if he did so.

Voter packs were sent to residents in October 2020, before an unusual number of people complained they had not received a ballot in the mail and were then found to have voted twice.

DNA or fingerprints on 23 ballots matched El-Halabi, his wife and daughter, the court heard. Each of those residents had returned two ballots, one genuine and one false, the court heard.

An election officer spotted the scam, telling police it was uncommon to receive that many calls from people saying they had not received their ballot papers, especially in a small suburb in Melbourne’s north-west. And when she checked the database, the ballots had been reported as lodged.

Helen Davidson, an independent Merri-bek councillor who pushed the VEC through VCAT to have Milad El-Halabi’s election voided for vote tampering last term, questioned whether there was a big enough deterrent for meddling with postal votes.

“It undermines the democratic process at the most fundamental level of government, local council,” Davidson told The Age on Wednesday.