Enrol or update your enrolment without delay
Voting is compulsory in Australia, but only possible if you are enrolled to vote.
You don't automatically go on the roll when you turn 18 or acquire citizenship. You have to enrol by filling out a simple form and sending it to the Australian Electoral Commission.
Although a national election is imminent, an estimated 1.4 million eligible Australians are not enrolled to vote.
"A million votes could dramatically change the election outcome — a million votes could determine who holds the balance of power in the Senate, or who wins the key to the Lodge,'' says Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
In 2006, however, the Howard Government changed the law to close the electoral roll 3 days after the 'issue of writs' (which occurs 1-to-4 days after the PM calls a federal election), down from the 7 days previously allowed.
Nearly 80,000 first-time voters enrolled in the 7 days prior to the 2004 election. A further 345,000 people updated their enrolment in that week.
At the 2007 election, by contrast, some 100,000 young people were denied the right to vote because they didn't get to enrol in time.
Reducing the time available to enrol after an election is called infringes Australians' right to vote. The seemingly banal amendment of 2006 disproportionately disenfranchised young people, migrants, people in remote areas or experiencing homelessness or any other factor limiting their ability to respond quickly to close-of-roll deadlines.
It begs the question, would these groups be less likely to vote for the Coalition, and could their disenfranchisement have been the then-Coalition Government's goal?
The Labor Party, once in government, tried to reverse the amendment to the Electoral Act in 2009, but was defeated in the Senate.
If your address on the electoral roll may be out of date, check your enrolment here.
Brush up on how to cast a valid vote in the House of Reps and Senate with Antony Green’s terrific guide: http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/2010/07/how-to-vote-guide.html
The Prime Minister has announced she intends to issue the writs on Monday 19 July.
Note there are actually 2 deadlines for enrolling:
a) The deadline for the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to receive a correctly completed enrolment form is 8pm on (in this case) Monday 19 July IF a person is:
• enrolling for the first time; OR
• re-enrolling to get back on the roll after having been removed for any reason.
b) The deadline for the AEC to receive a correctly completed enrolment form is 8pm Thursday 22 July IF a person:
• is 17 years of age, but will turn 18 on or before 21 August 2010; OR
• will become an Australian citizen on or before 21 August 2010; OR
• is on the roll, but with an out-of-date address or name details.
Get an enrolment forms here:
http://www.aec.gov.au/Enrolling_to_vote/Update_enrolment.htm
Check the currency of your enrolment here:
https://oevf.aec.gov.au/
Major congratulations to GetUp! and the Human Rights Legal Resource Centre for their successful High Court challenge. The Court agreed that the 2006 electoral amendment closing the rolls early was arbitrary and unconstitutional, and declared “certain parts of the Act invalid.” GetUp! estimates an additional 100,000 Australians who enrolled in the 7 days following the issue of the writs will now be able to vote in the upcoming federal election on 21 August. A tangible victory for human rights.
ABC News: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/06/2975602.htm