Gilmore candidate Andrew Constance was blindsided by a report claiming members of a religious sect have infiltrated the army of volunteers who have been handing out how-to-vote cards for the federal election.

Independent candidate Kate Dezarnaulds said she has had first-hand experience of intimidatory bullying tactics from volunteers at local polling booths.

She told The Bugle about these incidents, including one where a volunteer had taken a photo of her and her 11-year-old daughter talking to a Greens official without their consent as “proof” that she was linked to their party.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday night that hundreds of members of a religious sect known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church had been campaigning in Labor-held marginal seats in Victoria and NSW, including Gilmore.

When asked by The Bugle about the report, Labor incumbent Fiona Phillips did not want to comment about the allegations and said her focus was ensuring the issues relevant to the Gilmore electorate are at the forefront in the lead-up to election day on Saturday.

There are six pre-polling stations which have been operating in Gilmore since last Tuesday with already more than 26 per cent of voters getting in early to have their say at the ballot box, including at Kiama Uniting Church which has been very busy over the past week.

“There was something menacing and hard to put your finger on in terms of the style and behaviour of the dominant number of volunteers for the Liberals over the last week," Dezarnaulds said.

“There are familiar faces from the local Liberal Party who were at some polling booths but the dominant numbers have been made up by a group which are not known to the community and have been very threatening and menacing and dominant in their behaviour.

“People really don't like the experience of being harassed at the polling booths and overwhelming booths with out-of-towners doesn't do anything to communicate to the people of Gilmore that the Liberal Party is listening to their concerns and their priorities."

Dezarnaulds said the actions of some volunteers had been intense but "our job is to rise above it, to keep on smiling and to stay focused on having conversations that matter with people who are undecided on where to put their vote".

Kate Dezarnaulds.

“They have been aggressively positioning Liberal Party corflutes en masse and relocating and moving other parties so that they have the dominant positions at every booth.

“They have been pouncing on cars in driveways, particularly that contain elderly people and shepherding them to the polling booth. They have been whispering completely misleading information into people's ears as they finally step over the threshold into into the polling area.

“Some of them the other day had a photograph of my 11-year-old daughter on their phones with us having a conversation with a friend who was handing out for the Greens and have been whispering in people's ears saying ‘she's a Green”. I've never had anything to do with The Greens party or election campaigns and for a picture of my daughter to be on the phones of a bunch of threatening men from out of town is pretty galling.

“I'm very glad to see that the temperature has come down a notch or two (since the report was published) and the behaviour seems to have been corrected by the local branches of the Liberal Party who are behaving in a much more pleasant way.

“There's absolutely nothing which is non-compliant or illegal about what they are doing, just culturally it's deeply offputting to people and and it speaks to the incredible number of resources that the Liberal Party are throwing at this seat.

“I think that we are past saturation point. I think it is now offputting to voters and people don't like seeing politics played in this aggressive way. They would prefer to be straightforward, respectful and friendly.”

Constance was not happy with any implication from Dezarnaulds that he would condone intimidatory tactics.

“It’s quite a serious allegation that she is putting because I don’t go and ask the religious background of any volunteer,” he said.

“It’s inappropriate to and she should do well to know that any Australian can participate in the democratic process, regardless of religious background or what she might think.

Andrew Constance with Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor at the start of the election campaign. Photo: macourtmedia.com

“Generally pre-polling is very respectful. If people have concerns, the election officials are there. Go to them if you have concerns.”

He went on to criticise Dezarnaulds for comments she made in an email last year which were leaked to the media earlier this week.

“I think Kate Dezarnaulds has done enough damage given her position in relation to Berry and describing it as a backwards, miserable retirement village,” he said.

“Throughout my career, I’ve done nothing but to make sure our communities are unified and embraced.

“There are wonderful people in Berry who work tirelessly as volunteers, there’s some fantastic festivals - everything from the local show to the Australia Day ceremonies to the services put on by those volunteers and I can assure you it is not a miserable backwards retirement village.

“It’s not as if she decribed it five years ago like that, she described it as that last year.”