The electoral commission has declined to vouch for the authenticity of a figure provided by Defence on how many soldiers may have missed out on voting in the federal election.  The Liberal National Party is investigating whether to launch a court challenge to the election result in Herbert, a north Queensland seat based on Townsville which is home to hundreds of Australian Defence Force personnel.  The seat, previously held by the LNP's Ewen Jones, was won by Labor's Cathy O'Toole by 37 votes.  An LNP spokesman said "no decision" has been made on the Court of Disputed Returns action.  Army members from Townsville were among thousands who took part in Exercise Hamel, in South Australia, during the federal election campaign.  AAP has been told Townsville soldiers on the exercise did not get to vote, despite their best efforts to do so.  Defence said in a media statement to AAP that 628 army members did not cast their votes, while 1274 voted at polling stations in the exercise area and 1371 were transported to polling stations in Port Augusta, Whyalla, Port Pirie and Kadina.  Asked to confirm the Defence figure of those who missed out, the Australian Electoral Commission told AAP on Tuesday: "The AEC is unable to comment on the provenance or authenticity of this figure."  AAP has been told the figure came from a voluntary survey of ADF members and the actual figure could be different.  The AEC said defence personnel were advised of their voting options before and after their deployment to the exercise and one of the options was postal voting.  When soldiers turned up to a staging point in South Australia's Cultana Training Area, AAP has been told many were told pre-prepared ballot papers were not available.  The AEC confirmed postal vote certificates with ballot papers were provided to defence personnel "across a large number of electoral divisions across all states and territories".  However, personnel without a postal vote certificate were transported by the ADF to other polling places, the commission said in a response to AAP's questions.  The commission took a "number of pieces of information" from ADF personnel at the staging point booth.  "This included advice that soldiers had voted prior to deployment, information about individuals who were unable to attend the staging point or the exercise for a variety of reasons, and information about soldiers who were being transported to other sites."  AEC staff noted soldiers' concerns about long lines at the voting centres in Port Augusta and other places.
As the Liberal National Party considers its legal options in the seat of Herbert, the electoral commission backs the way it provided voting to soldiers.