The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) is urging young and mobile voters to check their enrolment details as many may be unaware that they’ve been directly enrolled to vote in the upcoming State election.
Deputy Electoral Commissioner, Dana Fleming said direct enrolment occurred when the VEC used information provided by other Government bodies, such as the Department of Transport or the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, to add people to the electoral roll.
“The process is that we write to people and advise that unless they are not eligible and tell us within 21 days, we will automatically update their enrolment with the address details we have been provided,” Ms Fleming said.
“At the last State election, voter turnout for directly-enrolled voters was close to 78 per cent compared to the overall voter turnout rate of 90 per cent, accounting for a significant proportion of the drop in voter turnout at the 2018 election,” she said.
“Data shows that this group of voters tend be younger, more likely to have moved since the last election and less likely to vote.”
To combat the low turnout, Ms Fleming said the VEC would use mobile numbers and email addresses (where provided) to send VoterAlert messaging to directly-enrolled voters ahead of the election – reminding them to check their enrolment details.
She recommended that all young people who were eligible to vote in the upcoming election go to the VEC’s website before 8pm on 8 November to confirm that they were on the electoral roll and update their address details.
“If you’ve recently moved home, you may not be aware that you’ve been directly enrolled to vote,” the Deputy Commissioner said.
“As everyone on the electoral roll must vote, I certainly don’t want a situation where a person first realises that they should have voted when they receive our ‘please explain’ letter after the election.”
Further information on how to update voting enrolment details can be accessed at this PS News link.
