Twenty-nine applications valued at more than $1.2million are competing for the Shellharbour electorate’s $400,000 in funds, with Ms Watson encouraging people to vote for projects they think should receive money.

The poll has been criticised by the Liberal Party’s likely Shellharbour candidate, Mark Jones, who is treasurer of the Shellharbour Cricket Club, one of the groups competing for funds.

Mr Jones said the only details provided to help people decide were the applicant’s name, the value of the project and a three to five-word description.

‘‘Anyone anywhere in the world can vote as many times as they like for any project they want to,’’ Mr Jones said.

‘‘I know the countless hours of effort that is put into these applications by hard-working volunteers. To allow an obviously flawed system to have any impact on the allocation of important community funding is a massive slap in the face to the efforts of those volunteers.

‘‘Decisions should be based on what the best projects are and which ones benefit the most people.’’

Ms Watson said Mr Jones’s criticism of the poll was ‘‘misplaced’’.

She said the most important details were provided but she was constrained by the need to observe commercial-in-confidence information.

‘‘My website administrator has informed me that the voting system is as robust as possible,’’ Ms Watson said. ‘‘Any attempt to vote multiple times is filtered to only enable a vote preference to count once. So far, the vast majority of participants are voting in the spirit intended.’’

Ms Watson said she didn’t know if the poll would prove to be a successful venture.

The poll closes at 5pm on Saturday, September 27.