Australians who are isolating after testing positive for COVID-19 will be able to vote using their phone this election, after Crikey first reported that a loophole in eligibility would leave some voters unable to cast their ballot.
Any voter who tested positive for COVID-19 after 6pm last Friday will be able to use the Secure Telephone Voting service offered by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to vote.
This morning, electoral commissioner Tom Rogers signed a brief recommending that eligibility for the phone voting service be expanded.
“We have analysed the service’s take-up so far, our staffing levels and forecasts for use, and are in urgent discussions with government about the concerns expressed by members of the public,” he said in a statement released on Friday morning.
Special Minister of State Ben Morton released a statement shortly afterwards announcing that the federal government in consultation with the opposition had acted on the advice.
“It is important that every Australian who is enrolled and entitled to vote, be able to exercise their democratic right and this change ensures that,” he said in a press release.
Yesterday Crikey reported that potentially hundreds of thousands of Australians would be affected by restrictions on phone voting that left some people unable to vote or relying on receiving their mail ballot in time.
With phone voting originally only available to those who tested positive after Tuesday 6pm, and a mail ballot cut-off at Wednesday 6pm, more than 130,000 Australians who tested positive between Saturday and Tuesday risked losing their vote.
This article is incomplete without mentioning that Monique Ryan basically forced the government’s hand last night and this morning. Publishing a claim for the credit for this from (the perhaps mythical) Ben Morton is misleading at best. The Yeti and his government had to be led by their collective noses to this outcome by an independent who is not even in the parliament.
Well done Monique, and best of luck tomorrow.
Great news. I was concerned that the thin edge of US style vote-rigging was in play. Thankfully we have many who still value the true democratic process. Well done AEC.
Yesterday, the AEC insisted the legislation did not allow phone votes for certain people with COVID. Now we find out it was the regulation which prevented this. Today’s solution cannot be contrary to the legislation so the ability to change the rules was always there. Something not quite right here.
In reality, I believe, the regulation did not comply with the terms of the Act
Many enrolled offshore citizens had applied for postal votes, posted out 21 April, but yet to arrive e.g. in EU…..
The response from AEC social media interns on Twitter is idiotic:
‘@AusElectoralCom
·
12 May
….once the application has been processed and sent by the postal system, there is really not a lot the AEC can do from there – except provide a tracking system. Being overseas is a valid reason for not voting…‘
Me: ‘Surely AEC wants everyone eligible, including overseas, to vote?’
AEC: ‘Passion for voter access is something we share. We’ve consulted closely with DFAT about the service provision and put in place additional measures for o’seas postal voting, including the use of couriers and diplomatic mail.‘
Official via ABC:
‘What should I do if I don’t get my postal vote paper by election day?
“If someone receives their postal vote after election day they cannot complete it,” an AEC spokesperson said.
“They should simply dispose of it and can provide a valid reason for not voting to the AEC when they receive an apparent non-voter notice after the election.”‘
Surely this is not a form of voter suppression?