The Australian Electoral Commission is pulling out all the stops to make sure that those who live remotely or in small villages are able to vote, and that their vote will be counted.
The most recent local council elections saw a near complete vote failure in the small Indigenous community of Toomelah, where 40 of the 43 votes cast were deemed informal and not counted. This was the starting point for a New England Times investigation that revealed systemic problems in the NSW electoral system and over 2000 votes across the New England not counted when they should have been.
Toomelah born Moree Plains Shire Councillor Fred McGrady is fighting for reform to the NSW electoral process to avoid a repeat of what happened in Toomelah, including floating the proposal of designated seats for First Nations people in parliaments and councils.
“Unfortunately, since the unsuccessful referendum of having a Voice enshrined in the Australian constitution, we First Nation People have “again” become invisible.”
“Given more than 60% of Aboriginal peoples voted for a Voice, our vision for self determination, will always be determined by the people’s personal agendas and their ingrained colonialism views of Aboriginal people.”
Cr McGrady believes the lack of consequences for the NSW Electoral Commission’s failure in Toomelah is telling.
“Matters like the local government election disaster at the Toomelah polling booth will have no impact or consequences on the officials.
“Why? Maybe it’s because they are Aboriginal citizens, and their democratic rights are less valued, it seems.”
However, the AEC says they are making considerable efforts to ensure all citizens have the opportunity to vote and are supported to have their vote count. This election will also not be vulnerable to the issues that happened in last year’s local council election; federal votes are assessed for formality and counted on election night by people, not by computer. And the communication of what is required for a formal vote is also much more clear, with all voters nation wider given the same type of ballot paper with the same instructions on how to complete it.
Remote voting services to empower everyone to vote
New England and Parkes are the two largest electorates in the state, and are even bigger this year after a redistribution. The local government areas of Muswellbrook and half of Gwydir Shire have now been added to the New England electorate, making it a 600 kilometre long electorate and 75 237 sq km total area, or almost 10% of the state. Parkes loses the northern half of Gwydir to New England, and gains the Parkes, Forbes, and Bland local council areas from the south of the state and increases its size to 406 755 sq km, just over 50% of the state.
The AEC provides remote voter services (RVS) to bring electoral services to remote locations across the nation, sometimes to communities with as few as 10 people on the electoral roll. They work in collaboration with local communities, community organisations and leaders in remote areas to tailor services to the requirements of communities.
“Where possible, our remote mobile polling teams are supported by Local Assistants, who are members of local communities, who use their cultural, communication and language skills to help community members understand, and be comfortable with, the voting process,” a spokesperson for the Australian Electoral Commission said.
In the electorate for Parkes, the AEC is planning to visit 23 remote locations, including Bullarah, Garah, and Toomelah.
“In addition to these remote voter services (RVS) locations in Parkes, we’re planning to visit 32 hospitals in the electorate and will have 14 pre-poll locations in the early voting period available and 91 polling places on election day itself,” a spokesperson for the AEC said.
“In terms of the electorate of New England, we are planning to visit 30 hospitals in the electorate and will have 9 pre-poll locations in the early voting period available and 89 polling places on election day itself.”
The AEC also offers mobile polling to non-remote discrete Indigenous communities where voters within the community do not have feasible access to other voting services and there are at least 10 electors, as well as mobile polling to Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, known as ‘ACCHOs’, in non-remote Australia.
In language assistance for those who need it
The AEC says that all polling places have materials regarding how to vote formally. Some select polling places have prominent ‘Languages spoken here’ signs, and every polling place has a flipbook with instructions on how to correctly complete a ballot paper translated into 34 languages.
“Specifically for First Nations languages, the AEC produces a range of information materials for each federal election,” the spokesperson said.
“This includes illustrated booklets and fact sheets covering how to complete a ballot paper (among other topics).
“There are also audio files (including in a number of First Nations languages), easy read guides and culturally appropriate animations and videos in language uploaded on iPADs and taken into First Nations communities as resources.”
The AEC’s Indigenous Electoral Participation Program has delivered a number of education sessions in Dubbo, Gilgandra, Moree, Lightning Ridge, Goodooga, Toomelah, Coonamble, Broken Hill and at the Murdi Paake Regional Assembly in recent months. They also has a stall on NAIDOC Day in Tamworth last year to hand out education materials. There are a number of additional education sessions planned in coming weeks.
The AEC website also has a range of information and resources to assist voters on understanding how to vote, including a dedicated page for Indigenous people.
Those who need assistance can also ask an AEC staff member or take a support person with them.
“If a voter needs assistance at a polling booth, they can nominate any person to assist. This person could be a friend or relative. If they do not nominate someone, then the polling official in charge can provide assistance.”
The AEC also produces a guide for people who are providing assistance to voters here: factsheet-guidance-with-voting.pdf
Early and Postal votes an option for everyone
For the vast majority of voters who live in the many small villages and localities across the region, as well as on properties, travelling to a bigger centre to cast a vote can be an obstacle to voting.
Those who do not have a polling centre in their town don’t have to make the trip on a Saturday. They can visit any early voting centre in your state/territory during the pre-poll period.
On election day, there is also no requirement to attend a specific booth as there was in the local government elections. You can visit any voting centre in your state/territory but if you are interstate on election day, you will need to vote at a designated interstate voting centre.
Voters who live in small communities who do not have a polling booth and did not have mobile or remote voter services team visiting, can also apply for a postal vote. Postal voting opens upon the announcement of the election and closes at 6pm on the Wednesday prior to election day.
“The AEC’s strong advice to people needing a postal vote is to not leave it until the last week of the election period to apply.
“In some circumstances, the AEC cannot guarantee delivery of postal voting packs when an application has been submitted late in the election period.”
Postal voting is also a great option for those who need assistance, as the vote can be completed at home in private – so you discuss your voting choices freely with whomever is helping you.
The federal election must be held by May 17 this year.
Follow all the New England Times coverage of the federal election here or have your say on Engage