The importance of identification
Prior to the 2010 and 2013 elections, to get on the role to vote, you filled out a form from the post office with your name and address. There was nothing to stop someone registering the names of non-existent people eg: "living" at one’s home address’ - for further information please turn to our pages - Does Fraud Occur?
When you vote on Election Day, you are asked your name and address but you are NOT asked to show ID. There is nothing to stop you voting except “Have you voted before today?” or for any of those people ‘living with you' at any or all of the polling places in your electorate. Yours and their names are on the rolls at every polling place, rather than as previously, at just one place. When a name is struck off at one polling place, it remains on the rolls at the other polling places, so there is nothing to stop you voting twice or multiple times.
The availability of application forms from the Post Office has been replaced by having to apply to the AEC for registration forms online, phone or mail.
The original Australian Ballot had ballot papers numbered and the butts kept, so if an election were disputed the votes were traceable. Unfortunately this was later abandoned. The result being that now once a vote goes into the box, it's counted and no-one knows if it comes from a real person, a non-existent person, a phantom voting from the grave or a single person voting once or multiple times.
To draw attention to the absurdity, in a recent South Australian election, a family-run operation calling itself ''The Election Team” claimed to have voted 159 times. There was no way of proving or disproving them, no way of tracing them and no way of knowing if their votes altered the outcome.
The remedy for this is absurdly simple. One must show a provable ID before one can vote. Even simple transactions these days, require ID - a Medicare card, driver's licence, gas bill, something to prove you are who you claim to be. It should be expected that the foundation of this great nation, the right to vote, should require the same level of identification.
When you vote on Election Day, you are asked your name and address but you are NOT asked to show ID. There is nothing to stop you voting except “Have you voted before today?” or for any of those people ‘living with you' at any or all of the polling places in your electorate. Yours and their names are on the rolls at every polling place, rather than as previously, at just one place. When a name is struck off at one polling place, it remains on the rolls at the other polling places, so there is nothing to stop you voting twice or multiple times.
The availability of application forms from the Post Office has been replaced by having to apply to the AEC for registration forms online, phone or mail.
The original Australian Ballot had ballot papers numbered and the butts kept, so if an election were disputed the votes were traceable. Unfortunately this was later abandoned. The result being that now once a vote goes into the box, it's counted and no-one knows if it comes from a real person, a non-existent person, a phantom voting from the grave or a single person voting once or multiple times.
To draw attention to the absurdity, in a recent South Australian election, a family-run operation calling itself ''The Election Team” claimed to have voted 159 times. There was no way of proving or disproving them, no way of tracing them and no way of knowing if their votes altered the outcome.
The remedy for this is absurdly simple. One must show a provable ID before one can vote. Even simple transactions these days, require ID - a Medicare card, driver's licence, gas bill, something to prove you are who you claim to be. It should be expected that the foundation of this great nation, the right to vote, should require the same level of identification.