A Parliamentary Committee has called on the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) to consider the possibility of joining a national electoral roll to improve the security and integrity of the State’s electoral system.
Releasing its report Inquiry into whether Victoria should participate in a national electoral roll platform, the Parliament’s Electoral Matters Committee said its Inquiry took into account the implications of the proposed change, including the benefits and risks of moving to a national platform and other issues that might arise for the independence of the VEC and Victoria’s electoral system.
The Committee said that moving to a national electoral platform would involve a major change from the current arrangements in which the VEC maintained its own bespoke piece of software which stored Victoria’s database of electors, produced electoral rolls and supported other electoral functions.
“Since 2017, Australia’s State, Territory and Commonwealth electoral commissions have been working towards the development of a shared software platform,” the Committee said.
“This ‘national electoral platform’ could support a variety of electoral functions, including the electoral roll,” it said.
“It has the potential to improve cyber security and to provide cost savings and efficiencies for electoral commissions over time.”
The Committee said that in view of the national electoral roll platform still in the concept phase, it could not definitively say whether moving to it would be in Victoria’s interest.
“The Committee’s conclusion is that it is worthwhile for the VEC to continue working with other commissions to explore the possibility of a national electoral platform, including a national electoral roll platform,” it said.
“In the meantime, both the Victorian and Australian electoral commissions are currently undertaking work to redevelop the software they use to manage their databases of electors and produce electoral rolls.”
The Committee encouraged both electoral commissions to collaborate wherever possible on the work to reduce duplication of effort and costs.
It also noted there was a lack of transparency around what data was stored in the Victorian database of electors and recommended legislation be updated to clearly set out what was stored on the database, “as is the case in several other Australian States and Territories”.
The Committee’s 36-page Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
