Missing votes found in tight Indi count LIBERAL frontbencher Sophie Mirabella's re-election hopes have been dealt a blow with the discovery of a pile of 1000 votes favouring her opponent. Electoral officials noticed a disparity between the number of votes cast in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the seat of Indi and found a pile of 1003 votes favouring independent candidate Cathy McGowan had not been entered in the system. The votes came from a pre-poll voting centre in Wangaratta in north-east Victoria. "We have found that there was 1003 House of Representatives ballot papers for the McGowan candidate that weren't put into the system," an AEC spokesman said. They had been sorted as to who the vote was for, but they just hadn't been entered. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is yet to include the votes in its tally for the seat, which currently shows Ms McGowan leading Ms Mirabella by 771 votes with a little over 80 per cent of the vote counted. An AEC spokesman said the error was discovered as part of a number of checks and balances that take place during counting.