The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is to modernise the Australian electoral system by expanding the use of electrical lists of voters for future elections.
Minister for Finance, senator Simon Birmingham said the AEC is to expand its use of Electronic Certified Lists (ECLs) in all mobile booths, pre-poll booths and high volume polling locations on future election days.
“The ECL is a portable electronic device containing the Electoral Roll, which is used to mark off voters at polling booths in real-time,” Senator Birmingham said.
“This funding will provide the AEC with an additional 500 ECL devices ahead of the next federal election, and an additional 5,000 devices for the election after that, to support the development of more efficient voting systems,” he said.
“It will also help the AEC to streamline the voting experience by making it easier to find voters against the correct address.”
Senator Birmingham said the upgrades would provide further safeguards to protect the integrity of Federal elections and improve services to voters.
Assistant Minister for Electoral Matters, Ben Morton said the funding would also support the development of a new secure communications tool for AEC Officers In Charge at polling places, to help connect Commission staff at polling booths around the country.
“The AEC will pilot the new technology at a number of select locations at the next federal elections and if successful, it will be rolled out to a further 1,300 locations for the following election,” Mr Morton said.
