Local government elections in the City of Gosnells have turned nasty with hate mail and the removal of election material marring the contest.
City of Gosnells mayor Dave Griffiths, who was standing for re-election, said he had spent weeks and about $1000 putting up banners around the city but by last week they had all vanished or been tampered with.
“There’s still string on the fence with some of them but the banner has been removed,” he said.
“When it first started happening I thought it might just be a kid but when I looked closer they’ve gone and cut it with what has to be a knife at the corners.
“They’ve done it in Gosnells, Canning Vale and Southern River so it can’t be kids because they’re more likely to just do local vandalism but this is far and wide.”
Mr Griffiths said many of the banners had been on private property and he had gained permission from property owners to place them.
He said up until this point the election had been reasonably clean and he was disappointed to see it descend into vandalism.
“Whoever it is obviously doesn’t believe in the democratic process,” he said.
“I’ll be going around and replacing them but it’s very disappointing, it’s illegal, it’s vandalism.”
Councillor Glenn Dewhurst, who was standing for re-election in a ticket of five with Mr Griffiths, has also been targeted this week after he received his own election pamphlet in his letterbox with a target drawn on his face.
The message written next to it read ‘for you w****r.’
“That kind of thing usually doesn’t bother me but my nine-year-old girl was the one who got it out the letterbox and it really upset her,” he said.
“I’m very happy for people to email me, phone me or even put it in an envelope if they want to talk to me but don’t send it to my home address like that for my kids to see.”
At least two other candidates, who were on a separate ticket, have alleged their election material was also removed.
Candidates have also questioned the wording of the ticket Mr Griffiths and Mr Dewhurst were on after a pamphlet was distributed instructing voters to tick no more than five boxes to ensure their vote was valid, despite there being seven openings on council.
A Department of Local Government spokeswoman said where seven vacancies existed a vote only became invalid if the number of candidates selected on a ballot paper exceeded the number of vacancies.
“Candidates and their campaigners should be cautious of suggesting otherwise as to do so may be construed as distribution of ‘deceptive material’ under section 4.88 of the Local Government Act 1995,” she said.
Mr Dewhurst said the error was simply a mistake that hadn’t been caught in time and had since been corrected in subsequent election material.
