The Australian Electoral Commission concedes a large number of Australians – possibly in excess of 100,000 people – who tested positive for Covid early this week and will be isolating on Saturday may not be able to vote in the federal election.
Some Covid-positive voters have found themselves caught in a voting eligibility anomaly whereby they missed the deadline to register for postal voting but recorded a positive RAT test too early to access telephone voting.
People who tested positive for the virus from Sunday to Tuesday 6pm, but failed to register to postal vote by the Wednesday 6pm deadline, could miss out on casting a ballot.
Some voters who tested positive on Tuesday had just 24 hours to register for postal voting while dealing with their diagnosis.
The Human Rights Law Centre says the anomaly “risks disenfranchising tens of thousands of Australians”.
In anticipation of Australia’s first federal election during the pandemic, a special Covid provision was written into the Electoral Act allowing anyone who tested positive after 6pm on Tuesday 17 May to vote via telephone – a method previously only used by voters with vision disabilities.
People who did not apply for a postal vote before the Wed 6pm application deadline, haven’t voted yet, tested positive before 6pm Tues, and are in isolation through to after election day, may not be able to vote.
— AEC ✏️ (@AusElectoralCom) May 19, 2022
That means for people who tested positive from Sunday to Tuesday evening, postal voting was the only option, unless they pre-polled before entering isolation. But applications for postal voting closed at 6pm on Wednesday, so those who did not register before the deadline cannot vote by post.
The Guardian has also been contacted by affected voters who claimed they tried to register for postal voting before the deadline but were told their ballot papers would not arrive in time and they should wait until phone voting details became clear on Wednesday – only to ultimately be told they could not vote that way.
The exact number of people affected is not clear. The AEC has acknowledged that some in the cohort “may not be able to vote”. A spokesperson said there was no scope to change the voting eligibility rules because they were set out in legislation.
“We cannot change this,” they said.
Even those who applied for a postal vote before the registration deadline are not guaranteed to receive their ballots before Saturday.
The AEC spokesperson said “we will be doing everything we can to ensure people who applied for a postal vote will receive them” on time.
On Thursday, the Human Rights Law Centre called on the AEC “to interpret the provisions in a way that upholds the voting rights of all Australians”.
The centre’s executive director, Hugh de Kretser, said “the right to vote is the most fundamental part of our democracy” and was “enshrined in the constitution and has been upheld by the high court on many occasions”.
“We are alarmed that the AEC is adopting an interpretive approach that seems to be contrary to the intent of the Electoral Act. The AEC’s position risks disenfranchising tens of thousands of Australians unless it is revised. We urge the AEC to clarify its position immediately,” De Kretser said.
I’m going to guess that young people, people who speak a different language at home, etc are VERY unlikely to have known about this.
— Dr Monique Ryan (@Mon4Kooyong) May 19, 2022
Monique Ryan, the teal independent candidate in the Melbourne seat of Kooyong where the contest with Josh Frydenberg is expected to come down to the wire, called on the AEC to provide a way for those affected by the anomaly to vote. She said the issue “is not hard to fix”.
“It’s safe to assume that a great many people who were in their sick beds with Covid didn’t know about the postal vote deadline,” Ryan tweeted.
“I’m going to guess that young people, people who speak a different language at home etc are VERY unlikely to have known about this.”
Kooyong voter Guy Miller tested positive for Covid on Monday and realised on Thursday he had missed the chance to register for a postal vote.
When his wife, Carol Miller, called the AEC a representative offered to take Guy off the list so he would avoid a fine for not voting, she said.
“I said that’s not the problem, he needs to be able to vote somehow.”
Carol Miller claimed the AEC representative then suggested Guy take another RAT test and because it would show positive after the phone voting eligibility came in he would be able to vote by that method.
“The AEC is back in the dark ages,” she said.
Guy Miller added via telephone: “It’s really slack. This is the first time ever that people have a real chance to make a change. Normally it’s a forgone conclusion in Kooying … I’d hate to be the one vote that could have swayed the election.”
