You may have seen them pop up on your Twitter feed recently. Sometimes they're firm, sometimes they're tongue-in-cheek, and sometimes their tweets emit sassy “as per my last email” energy.
They're from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) and they're perhaps not what you'd expect from a "bunch of bureaucrats."
“Make it easy to count your vote, and leave the eggplant emoji off your ballot paper,” one spokesperson said at the end of an explainer on whether Australians could draw on their ballot paper.
On another occasion, after being accused by a Twitter user of being corrupt, the AEC replied "are not", before giving a longer answer.
It's all part of a new strategy the AEC is taking to quash misinformation and disinformation about the electoral process ahead of the federal election, which is expected to be held in May.
Evan Ekin-Smyth, the director of media and digital engagement at the AEC, told The Feed the government agency has been active on social media for some time now, but has recently ramped it up and changed its tone.
"We don't talk like a public service department, " Mr Ekin-Smyth said.
Really we're a bunch of bureaucrats but we don’t talk like bureaucrats because nobody else does – we want people to understand us."
Why do it? Democracy. Mr Ekin-Smyth said the agency has seen a rise in the number of Australians questioning the electoral process and growing scepticism on the mechanics of how a vote is counted.
The AEC is hoping by dropping the veil a little and ramping up the feedback, it can show the Australian public that it's a two-way conversation where it's ready to answer your questions, fact-check what you're reading and ultimately maintain trust.
The AEC launch a disinformation register
The rapid growth of online disinformation has led to such claims as voters will have to be fully vaccinated to vote, the AEC already knows the date of the upcoming federal election, and Australia will be using Dominion electronic voting machines, as used in some states of the US.
When the agency sees these type of claims online, or is told about them by a member of the public, an AEC member will often directly respond to the post to refute the claim and point out the facts. The AEC is hoping its vigilance might also act as a disincentive for those spreading the fake claims.
As well as ramping up its Twitter presence, the AEC has launched a register on its website to methodically refute disinformation.
In addressing the Dominion voting machine falsehood, which includes the assertion they could be used to “rig” the election in favour of one of the major political parties, the register points out that under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, voting machines aren't allowed.
Trust in government and institutions reached its lowest level on record, according to a major study of the 2019 federal election conducted by The Australian National University (ANU).
“If you hark back to leading up to the previous federal election in 2019, you didn't often see people talking about electoral processes the way that they are now, " Mr Ekin-Smyth said.
"Questioning the electoral process... it's really dangerous. That's what we saw in different international democracies."
In late 2020, former US president Donald Trump made false claims that the victorious Democrats had rigged the election. His claims contributed to the storming of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on 6 January 2021.
An example of misinformation on using Dominion voting machines being debunked by the AEC.
"People's perceptions of the AEC can play into quite directly their level of trust in election results.
"We don’t own the vote, Australian’s do. We just run it."
Dr Ehsan Dehghan, a lecturer in digital media at Queensland's University of Technology, said the Dominion voting machine claim is just one of the "imported conspiracies" Australia has seen lately.
"Like the Convoy for Freedom, [conspiracy theories] get imported from America and re-appropriated to the local context," Dr Dehghan told The Feed.
"With the upcoming Australian election, my feeling is that the number of [falsehoods] will increase as we get closer to the election."
Dr Dehghan said the AEC team has absolutely the right idea in its newfound approach.
"That casual approach looks more authentic, which could actually lead to them trusting the entity more, " he said.
"There's a difference between being seen just as another bureaucrat or as, an actual Twitter user with a real person sitting behind that account at giving you the facts in a friendly, casual manner."
The AEC respond to a user on Twitter.
The AEC said it was working closely with social media giants such as Meta, Twitter and TikTok about how to combat electoral misinformation and disinformation posted to their channels.
Apart from referring some matters to the platform, there's also talk of a TikTok election hub that will help direct users to fact-checked election information.
But if the AEC could share just one message, it's this:
"If you see something suss, come and talk to us,” Mr Ekin-Smyth said.
