Voting system ripe for corruption: Palmer

Clive Palmer says his party will block policy agenda in the senate unless there's electoral reform. Source: AAP

MINING magnate Clive Palmer says Australia's voting system is corrupt and UN observers would have declared the federal election unfair.

Mr Palmer says there is a staggering lack of security provisions around the election, claiming unsecured bags of pre-poll ballot papers were left in a building owned by a Liberal National Party member for two weeks.

"There's absolutely no way I will win based on voting irregularities and the security of the ballots," he told AAP on Tuesday.

"If there were UN observers here, this would be regarded as an unfair election."

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) could not confirm where the ballot papers were kept, but said they may be kept in plastic bags, but must be stored in secure rooms before counting.

Mr Palmer said he was disturbed to find out that in the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax, which he's contesting, those rooms weren't guarded and LNP members could have accessed them.

"In one instance, bags of unsecured ballots were left for up to two weeks at premises in Nambour owned by a prominent LNP member who had access to the building," he said in a statement.

"Why weren't they secure?

"The AEC needs to publish who owns these buildings and there needs to be tighter security to prevent unattended votes being tampered with."

He says that if he fails to win Fairfax, the two members of his party bound for the Senate will block Tony Abbott's policies unless electoral reform is promised.

"We think it's a corrupt system. Until that's sorted out Abbott won't be getting any legislation through the senate with our support," Mr Palmer said.

Mr Palmer said that electoral officials in Fairfax had constantly misled him during the count.

"The AEC said in writing before the election that pre-polling would be counted before Saturday night, but that never happened," he said.

He said his party's scrutineers weren't told about a recount on Sunday either, and only Labor and Liberal National Party scrutineers were invited.

He also questioned the legitimacy of some votes, which had already been counted.

"A lot have not got AEC signatures on them so who knows what's been added and taken out of that box. They should be informal," Mr Palmer said.

"The Australian electoral system needs major reform to implement more measures to reduce voter fraud like having all voters register with proper identification, doing away with the antiquated pencil and paper system, and properly securing ballots."

The AEC said voters don't need to show identification and AEC divisional officers have control over most aspects of elections, including the count, ballot security and access for scrutineers.

On Tuesday, Mr Palmer was ahead of the LNP's Fairfax candidate Ted O'Brien, 51.8 to 48.2 per cent, after preferences, with counting continuing.

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