The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) expects more than 17.2 million Australians to be enrolled to take part in the 2022 Federal Election planned for 21 May.
Electoral Commissioner, Tom Rogers said that with the enrolment deadline closed, more than 96 per cent of eligible Australians would again be enrolled following a record high in 2019.
Mr Rogers said that on the last day of enrolment, 214,000 applications were received — the biggest single day of enrolment in Australian history.
“The majority of people who have enrolled to vote since the election was announced are young Australians aged 18 to 24,” Mr Rogers said.
“This was an unmitigated success for the election and Australian democracy.
“We can’t confirm a final figure just yet, but with more than 700,000 enrolment applications received in the final week, the remarkable state of the roll in Australia is something that is simply not seen in most places around the world.”
Mr Rogers said the AEC’s enrolment teams worked through Easter and had continued to implement processes and systems that ensured Australian enrolment was not just world-leading, but also secure.
“We had almost 1,000 staff working in our offices all around Australia over the Easter weekend, making sure we could meet this extraordinary demand,” he said.
“The systems operated smoothly and securely under the load and Australia now has the highest base for democratic participation it has ever had.”
Mr Rogers said this set the foundation for election results that truly reflected the will of the people.
