Page 3085 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 17 October 2007
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Some of the massive impacts that the amendments to the voting regulations have had on this upcoming election were outlined in the front page of the Canberra Times today. According to the electoral commissioner Ian Campbell, an astounding 143,000 voters have been wiped off the electoral roll in the last six months or so. In Canberra, the number was 3,000 in total.
One of the more concerning aspects of this impact on voter eligibility has been the disadvantage suffered by young people. One way this is done is through what is called the objection process. People are knocked off the electoral roll if they move residence and do not inform the Australian Electoral Commission. Young people are particularly vulnerable to losing out this way on their right to vote because they generally rely more on renting and tend to move around more as a consequence. Keeping the commission up to date with the details of living arrangements that fluctuate only piles more demands on those already under great pressure.
The new changes to the electoral act also discriminate against those who move around within the same electorate. Previously, such people could cast a provisional vote on election day. Now such people will be ineligible to vote. This is totally unfair and is a disgrace. Another group of people in the community that have suffered the loss of their right to participate in the upcoming election is prisoners. There is no intrinsic rationale that justifies depriving people in jail of their right to vote. In fact, alienating a group of people vulnerable to social dislocation by stripping away their right to vote will not in any way, shape or form help reintegrate prisoners back into society in general when they return.
We all know of Mr Howard’s justification for this, claiming that these new measures will minimise the chance of electoral fraud in this country. That is odd. By his own admission former Special Minister of State Eric Abetz said that there had never been any evidence of fraudulent activity affecting any election in this country, and the statistics bear this out very clearly. The report by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters shows that between 1990 and 2001 there were 71 known cases of electoral fraud out of a grand total of 72 million votes cast. Is one case of fraudulent voting for every million votes a good reason to disenfranchise people of their right to vote? I think not.
The changes to the electoral laws are draconian and over the top. But Mr Howard and his power-hungry government do not agree with this, and nor did Mr Smyth in his previous comments on this matter. Mr Smyth dismissed this notion previously as “a motion that really lacks intellectual substance”, saying that the whole case was predicated on the words “may”, “could”, “potential” and “likely”. Well, if Mr Smyth is here he will have seen today’s Canberra Times: 143,000 people ended up not being able to vote. There is no “may”, “could” or “potential” in that number. It is real and it is on the front page of today’s Canberra Times.
Mr Smyth went on to say that nobody is being denied the right to vote. But 143,000 people have been denied the right to vote. Mr Smyth in his continued rant against this motion came out with a corker of a line:
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