Officials from the AEC say because the votes had already been counted, the incident did not impact the result in the NSW seat of Barton.

But they admit it shouldn’t have happened and an inquiry has been opened to examine whether improvements in the electoral process are needed.

The AEC stated, “The ballot papers were still intact in the transport container when recovered and were immediately sent back to the counting center. They underwent a new scrutiny process, which confirmed the initial count. Therefore, the election outcome in the Barton division was not impacted by this event.”

The spokesperson says the incident does not appear to be a deliberate act, but the AEC did experience problems in communicating with the worker.

The AEC added, “This incident should never have happened, and we are seriously concerned that our procedures did not prevent this issue when the ballot papers were first returned on polling night.”

“However, the further layers of ballot paper tracking processes in place for many elections did ultimately identify the issue and help rectify the situation.

“Nonetheless, work is already underway to further investigate this incident to understand what, if any, elements of the return of materials process need to be changed for future elections.”

The Barton seat was won by Labor’s Ash Ambihaipahar, defeating Liberal Fiona Douskou with more than 60 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote.