Has voting changed and how do I vote safely?
COVID-19 safety measures come election day will depend on the COVID environment at the time.
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All Australians enrolled to vote will be able to do so at the polling centres, regardless of their vaccination status.
The AEC will implement COVID safety measures such as vaccinated hygiene officers and polling officials, social distancing, regular cleaning, hand sanitiser and venue capacity limits, check in and masks where required.
Hygiene officers will sanitise voting screens and tables, remove material left behind, ensure adequate hand sanitiser and sanitise used pencils.
The biggest changes to the election process due to COVID will be that mobile voting teams may not be able to visit all aged care facilities or hospitals due to the higher risk, and the count of the votes may be slower, due to COVID safety measures and the anticipated increase in postal and other early voting.
Voting over the phone is allowed for low visibility and blind people and will now also be allowed for those forced to isolate at home. More will be announced about the Australian Electoral Commission's telephone voting service in the weeks after the election is announced.
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At the NSW local government elections in 2021, voting online using iVote was accepted. However, electoral laws do not allow online voting in federal elections.
What is the environmental cost of holding an election?
The AEC needs to have a required variety of polling materials to conduct an election. The AEC produces and distributes around 50 million ballot papers, 70,000 ballot boxes, 22,000 certified lists, 120,000 pencils, 160 kilometres of string and 730,000 security seals.
Resources such as paper and pencils could be unnecessary if electronic voting was implemented.
The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters - a Parliamentary committee which inquires into electoral matters - have stated online or electronic voting would be too costly and unsafe - the security, integrity and transparency could be compromised. It could also have an effect on voter behaviour and confidence in the electoral system.
Will I still be able to get a democracy sausage?
This website - https://democracysausage.org/ - crowdsources data from social media to compile a map of sausage and cake availability come election day.
Eva Baxter
Eva is a Northern Daily Leader journalist based in Tamworth. She covers health, politics, energy, arts & entertainment, business, community, and a bit of everything else.
Eva is a Northern Daily Leader journalist based in Tamworth. She covers health, politics, energy, arts & entertainment, business, community, and a bit of everything else.
