A South Australian man tweeted: “Big ups to the seven people that haven’t changed their enrolment info and their vote mail came to my house. My vote just evolved seven times hahaha.”

A Victorian woman, who is engaged to be married to her female partner, tweeted about a similar situation: “I get SO much mail for previous people who lived in my house. Every damn one of these is being opened and sent back as yes.”

AAP was seeking to verify whether the Twitter users returned more than one form to the Australian Bureau of Statistics or destroyed the forms that were not in their name.

An ABS spokeswoman said measures were in place to ensure the secrecy of each survey response and the integrity of the process.

“These measures will detect any attempted multiple responses associated with an individual eligible Australian with only the last valid response counted.”

The ABS warned theft or tampering with mail is a criminal offence and carries serious penalties.

Examining the contents of mail by someone who is not approved to do so is punishable by up to two years in jail.

– AAP