Community & Business
5 September, 2023
Vote date set
WITH the 2023 referendum announced for Saturday 14 October, all Australians are being urged to make sure they are enrolled and ready to vote.
Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said all Australian citizens aged 18 years and over were required by law to enrol and vote in the first referendum in nearly a quarter of a century.
“The instruction is simple - if Australians are unsure of the status of their enrolment, they should jump on the AEC website now and make sure their details are up to date,” he said.
“This referendum will have the best base for democratic participation of any federal electoral event in Australia’s history.
“Despite enrolment rates skyrocketing and a record 97.5% of voters currently on the roll, the work is never finished. We want all eligible Australians enrolled.”
While completing a ballot paper for a referendum is different to a federal election, the voting services will be quite similar. The 17.5 million voters will be able to cast their vote in person on the day or via early voting centres in the two weeks leading up to polling day or via a postal vote.
Postal vote applications are not open yet but postal vote applications should be available this week.
Applications will close at 6pm Wednesday 11 October.
Detailed information about all voting services – locations and opening hours - will be provided on the AEC website closer to the voting period.
The AEC is also seeking people to work at the referendum, but they must be an Australian citizen and be both politically and “issue neutral”.
The AEC wants to increase support at polling places that service large First Nations communities and locations with a high multicultural population.
Interested people can go to www.aec.gov.au to register their interest.
