On the last day that Victorians could enrol to vote, staff from the Victorian Electoral Commission were desperately trying to make voting seem fun to persuade holdouts to register. More than 200,000 citizens were not yet registered to vote in the final hours: numbers that could have been seriously influential. Free frisbees, stress balls and water bottles were used all day to lure passing potential voters into an inflatable marquee at City Square that had a passing resemblance to a bouncy castle. “The Victorian election is looking like it’s going to be a close one and the message of our campaign this year is that every vote does count and some elections are won on a very small number of votes,” said VEC representative Lawson Fletcher.
Year 12 student Binali Kuragamage said she was excited to reach the voting age but admitted she was a bit overwhelmed by the issues and promises of the state election. “I think human rights is an important issue,” she said.
Office manager Stacey Vice, 36, who recently moved to St Kilda, visited the booth to make sure her address was up to date so she could have her say. “After living in the States for seven years, and seeing how terrible it is over there, I actually think it is good that they make people vote here,” she said.
Full Article: Victorian state election: 200,000 eligible voters missing in action.