Online postal voting application
– privacy collection notice
On this page
An elector who will be unable to attend a voting centre on election day may apply online to vote by post (if eligible). This privacy collection notice applies to an online postal voting application for state and local government elections.
What personal and health information do we collect from an online postal voting application?
The NSW Electoral Commission collects personal information from an online postal voting application, including:
- the content you enter and submit as part of your application, including your contact details, reason/s for applying and the answer to a security question used to validate your postal vote once it is returned
- entries made through the online enrolment verification service such as your name, address and date of birth
- clickstream data (as detailed in the Website privacy statement).
The eligibility requirements to vote by post are already set out on the application form. There are some eligibility requirements that pertain to health information including whether an elector:
- is seriously ill or disabled and so will be prevented from attending a voting centre
- is prevented by approaching maternity from attending a voting centre
- is a person with a disability (within the meaning of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977).
You only need to select which ground or grounds are applicable, e.g. that you are seriously ill. There is no requirement to identify your illness.
Why do we collect your personal and health information from an online postal voting application?
The NSW Electoral Commission collects this information for the purpose of:
- ascertaining your eligibility to vote by post
- processing and managing your application
- verifying your enrolment details
- providing information to you about the application/voting processes (including by SMS, email or post)
- undertaking its functions with respect to failure to vote, multiple voting and the provision of election information, and as otherwise authorised and required under its enabling legislation.
When you return your postal voting pack to us, the NSW Electoral Commission will compare the information on your completed certificate with the information you provided us when you completed the online postal voting application. Your vote may not be counted if these details (e.g. your answer to the security question) do not match.
The NSW Electoral Commission may use this information to seek feedback about its online processes and voting experiences but will never ask who you voted for. The NSW Electoral Commission may also use de-identified health information as part of its research functions. Statistical analysis of this data is designed to improve NSW Electoral Commission services.
When visiting a NSW Electoral Commission website, a record of the visit and associated metadata (for example, IP address and browser type) is captured. This information is used to maintain, secure and improve the NSW Electoral Commission’s websites and enhance your experience when using them (refer to the Website privacy statement for more information).
Who will access the personal and health information you provide us?
A limited number of NSW Electoral Commission staff and contractors will have access to the online postal voting application for the purposes identified above.
Some of your personal information may be shared with the NSW Electoral Commission’s service providers so that they can message you about the status of your application or print and distribute your postal voting pack to you (if your application is approved). The NSW Electoral Commission has in place security arrangements with its service providers including strict contractual provisions concerning the security of information.
The NSW Electoral Commission may disclose your information if lawfully required and may also do so in other cases where lawfully authorised, for example, to other investigative agencies for law enforcement purposes or the Australian Electoral Commission in accordance with the joint roll arrangement.
Election information
The NSW Electoral Commission is required to keep records of the names and the addresses of all electors who voted, whether they voted personally, by post or by another method. This information is known as election information and is required to be made available to certain political participants upon request.
You can find further information about election information in the NSW Electoral Commission’s Disclosure of Enrolment, Electoral and Election Information Policy, which is available in the Policy library.
Are you required to provide us the personal and health information we collect?
The information required on these forms is compulsory unless otherwise indicated and failure to provide it may hinder or delay the application and voting processes.
It is not possible for applicants to stay anonymous and complete an application to vote by post. The voting itself is secret and there is nothing to link a person’s completed ballot paper to their application to vote using a particular method.
If you do not wish to use the online postal voting application to apply to postal vote, an equivalent form is available to download from the NSW Electoral Commission’s website or you may telephone the NSW Electoral Commission’s call centre.
Can you access or amend the information you provide us?
You can check the status of your online postal vote application using the details the NSW Electoral Commission sent you when you applied. If your details change after you apply to postal vote, please telephone us on 1300 022 011.
Your application to vote by post will be kept in secure storage during the election’s preservation period. The NSW Electoral Commission does not retain your application to vote by post for future election events. This means that unless you are a registered early voter, you are required to complete a new application to vote by post for each election event.
For general information on how to access and request to correct your personal information please refer the NSW Electoral Commission’s Privacy Management Plan available on our Privacy page.
Apply directly to the NSW Electoral Commission
The NSW Electoral Commission is not affiliated with and does not endorse any third parties offering to assist with a postal vote application. The NSW Electoral Commission is not responsible for what these organisations do with the information they may collect from applications to postal vote.
If you are uncertain a communication has come from us, please contact us directly to check. The NSW Electoral Commission will not send you a postal vote application. You can apply to postal vote by using the NSW Electoral Commission’s online postal voting application. Alternatively, you can download the equivalent form directly from our website.
Further information
If you have questions about using the online postal voting application, you may use the form available on our Contact us page or call 1300 022 011.
If you have concerns about the collection, use, disclosure or storage of personal information, you may contact the Privacy Officer by emailing privacy@elections.nsw.gov.au.
The NSW Electoral Commission’s head office is located at 231 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000. Additional contact details are available on our Contact us page.