Election officials fear a record three million Australians either won’t vote or will cast an informal vote this election as the deadline looms for enrolments. Voters have until 8pm (AEST) to register their details with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). Spokesman Phil Diak said there were 14.6 million on the roll at the weekend, out of a total pool of 15.9 million. He said 900,000 people didn’t vote last federal election and about 700,000 spoiled their ballot papers resulting in informal votes.
”This all adds up – the unenrolled, not turning out, spoiling their ballot papers – to something like 3 million. That is broadly around one in five eligible electors across the country,” he told ABC radio.
Mr Diak said there had been about 80,000 enrolments since the election was called.
It’s now too late to post an enrolment form, but the AEC says the quickest and easiest way to enrol is online where applications are processed electronically.
Full Article: Federal election may miss three million Australian votes.