The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) has launched an inaugural plan to increase participation in the State’s electoral process for people experiencing homelessness and people in prison.
Electoral Commissioner Warwick Gately said the Out of Home Action Plan built on VEC’s existing work to deliver responsive services for people experiencing homelessness or imprisonment (serving a sentence of less than five years).
“It is vital that people experiencing homelessness or imprisonment can share in the democratic experience by exercising their right to vote,” Mr Gately said.
“Participation in the democratic process is both empowering and socially inclusive,”
“For people in prison and those recently released, engagement with the voting process enhances democracy and also contributes to rehabilitation.”
Mr Gately said that like other marginalised groups, the degree to which prisoners were engaged in voting and electoral processes indicated the health of democracy in society.
The Commissioner acknowledged the close link between homelessness and the associated challenges of electoral participation, he quoted the United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) which drew a direct link between homelessness, poverty and the right to vote.
He said actions identified in the Plan were grouped into the four key priority areas of access, community, employment and changing attitudes.
“The Plan has been developed following extensive internal and external consultations with VEC staff, the VEC’s Out of Home Advisory Group and external stakeholders that work with people experiencing homelessness or people in prison,” Mr Gately said.
“Electoral accessibility is about removing barriers and increasing peoples’ confidence to enrol and vote.”
The VEC’s 15-page Action Plan can be downloaded at this PS News link.
