Media enquiries:
Maree Ward,
Hobart Area Office Manager
Phone: 03 6235 0560
18 November 2009
AEC stepping forward in quest for missing electors
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is searching for an estimated 1.2 million
people who are missing from the electoral roll.
As part of this search the AEC has embarked on one of its largest national mailouts this
year, sending more than 843,000 letters with enrolment forms to where they think many
of those missing from the roll could be. Across Tasmania, some 40,000 letters will be
sent out in late November.
The AEC’s own research says that the younger you are, the less likely you are to be on
the electoral roll, with young people aged 18 to 24 years believed to account for nearly
one third of the 1.2 million missing electors. Australians aged 18 to 34, or anyone who
has moved house in the last three years, have the greatest likelihood of not being on
the electoral roll.
Locally, Hobart Area Office Manager Maree Ward has been getting ready for the return
of enrolment forms and enquiry letters from the mailout, and the expected increase in
public enquiries about enrolment. “In Tasmania we are looking for around 13,000
people missing from the roll who have moved in the last three years and not updated
their enrolment. While the mailout is significant, it won’t reach everyone who is missing,
or everybody who has recently turned 18 or moved address, so I urge any Tasmanian
who needs to act on their enrolment to do so now,” she said.
“With both state and federal elections due in Tasmania over the next 17 months, now is
the time to check your enrolment details, either online at www.aec.gov.au or by phoning
the AEC on 13 23 26. This way you can be sure that you are correctly enrolled and
don’t miss out on having your say on election day,” Ms Ward added.
In order to better serve electors, an enhanced interactive online enrolment form has
also recently been introduced and is available on the AEC website, www.aec.gov.au
the possibilities for errors, it still needs to be printed, hand signed by the applicant and
sent to the AEC before the enrolment takes effect.
NEWS 
