Procedure - Offender Voting

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Purpose
1.	Eligibility to enrol and vote
1.1	Federal elections
1.2	State and local elections
2.	Updating enrolment details
3.	Completing enrolment forms
4.	Mail
5.	Voting at elections
6.	Provision of information to the Australian Electoral Commission

Purpose

To prescribe the process for prisoner enrolment and voting for local, state and federal elections in accordance with relevant legislation.

1. Eligibility to enrol and vote

1.1 Federal elections

An offender serving less than 3 years imprisonment, or a person on remand, may be eligible to be placed on the electoral roll and vote at federal elections in accordance with the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) s 93.

Eligibility to enrol and to vote is determined by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). Offenders requesting information about their entitlement to enrol should be provided with a copy of the prisoner voting fact sheet (refer Prisoner Voting Factsheet).

1.2 State and local elections

A person who is remand only may be eligible to be placed on the electoral roll and vote at local and state elections in accordance with Electoral Act 1992 (Qld) s 101.

Eligibility to enrol and to vote is determined by the Electoral Commission Queensland (ECQ).

2. Updating enrolment details

An offender may update his or her enrolment details, re-enrol or enrol by submitting the relevant form to the Australian Electoral Commission.

The general manager of the corrective services facility must provide an enrolment form to an eligible offender. Forms are available from the AEC's website www.aec.gov.au or by contacting the AEC State Office.

3. Completing enrolment forms

Offenders filling out an enrolment form may require assistance to confirm their identity in accordance with the requirements of the AEC, for example, accessing their driver's licence to prove their identity. Refer to the Electoral enrolment of a prisoner form.

A prison officer is declared at page B of the electoral enrolment form (authorisation number 33) to be an authorised person to verify identity documents.

4. Mail

Communications between an offender and the AEC or ECQ are privileged mail (refer appendix - Schedule of Authorised Persons for the Purposes of Privileged Mail).

5. Voting at elections

The process for offender voting is determined for each election in consultation with the AEC or ECQ.

The preferred method of offender voting is by postal vote. An eligible offender can enrol at any time as a general postal voter by filling out the relevant form. The general manager of the corrective services facility must provide a postal voting form to an eligible offender. Forms are available from, as relevant, either-

1. the AEC's website or by contacting the AEC State Office for Federal elections; or
2. the ECQ's website www.ecq.qld.gov.au for State and local elections.

6. Provision of information to the Australian Electoral Commission

Queensland Corrective Services has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with AEC to provide information to enable the AEC to manage the electoral roll.

In accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding, a report will be provided each month detailing offenders who have received a sentence of 3 years imprisonment or more.

F P Rockett
Director-General

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