4 December 2008

Electors can now reduce their chance of forgetting to vote at future state and local government elections by signing up to a new email and text messaging service being introduced by the NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC).

The NSWEC has launched the initiative to remind the State’s 4.5 million voters when and where an election is being held.

“With SMS and email communication now firmly cemented in Australian society it makes sense to adapt this technology to the election environment,” said NSW Electoral Commissioner Colin Barry.

“We successfully used SMS and email to recruit 11,500 casual election officials for the September local government elections and decided to expand it to the general population.”

Mr Barry said the SMS/email service should help reduce the number of penalty notices issued after each election by increasing the number of people who vote. This is the first time this service has been offered at an election in Australia.

This year 398,000 notices will be sent to electors who appear not to have voted in the September council elections. This is similar to the 2004 figure.

“That’s despite an extra half a million voters joining the NSW electoral roll over the past four years,” said Mr Barry.

Under the Local Government Act 1993, the NSWEC is required to issue a penalty notice to any elector who appears not to have voted. Anyone receiving a notice can provide a reason for not voting, pay a $55 fine, or have the matter dealt with by a court.

The NSWEC will conduct research next year to gain a greater understanding of why some people fail to vote.

“We’ll be trying to identify any non-voter trends within certain demographics and formulating a strategy to address those issues before the next State election in 2011.

“It is important that everyone has equal access to democracy and our role is to ensure that any roadblocks to people participating in that process are removed,” Mr Barry said.

Voters can sign up for the SMS/email reminder service at  www.elections.nsw.gov.au 

Media Contact:  Adrian Kerr, NSW Electoral Commission

(02) 9290 5954 adrian.kerr@elections.nsw.gov.au