Early voters in Melbourne’s northern Broadmeadows District are to have the chance to participate in an innovative pilot program in the lead-up to the State election this month.
Deputy Electoral Commissioner, Dana Fleming said the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) had made extra resources available at early voting centres in the district, where there was a significant population of voters with low English proficiency.
“Our research has shown a positive correlation between low English proficiency and high informality rates when it comes to voting,” Ms Fleming said.
“This pilot program aims to tackle that issue with in-language videos to build voter confidence to cast a formal vote.”
She said the pilot involved a QR code being made available for voters to access translated videos in the most common non-English languages spoken in and around Broadmeadows – Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, Italian and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic.
Ms Fleming said the QR codes would be prominent on VEC’s queueing infrastructure as well as in the voting compartments.
“The VEC has produced the in-language videos for Broadmeadows District in addition to a suite of nearly 70 videos in 25 community languages (including Auslan) designed to increase understanding of enrolment and voting ahead of the election,” the Deputy Commissioner said.
“With half of all informal votes cast accidentally, the VEC has an obligation to engage with communities in a meaningful way and in their own language where possible,” she said.
“Results from the pilot in Broadmeadows District will be analysed to see if the videos were able to positively impact the level of informal voting when compared to other districts,” Ms Fleming said.
Further voting information and instructions in languages other than English can be accessed at this PS News link.
