In Australia, voter registration is called enrolment. Enrolment is a prerequisite for voting at an election. Enrolment is compulsory for all Australian citizens over the age of 18 years, with the exception of Norfolk Island, where enrolment is voluntary. Residents in Australia who had been enrolled as British subjects in 1984, though not Australian citizens, can continue to be enrolled. (These comprise about 9% of the electoral roll.)
The functions of the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) include maintaining voter registration records and the preparation of electoral rolls. The AEC maintains a permanent electoral rolls, which are updated continuously, and which are used for federal elections, by-elections and referendums. It also forms the basis of state (except in Western Australia, which compiles its own) and local electoral rolls.[1] Since 2009, New South Wales automatically updates enrolment details onto the state roll, but not the federal roll, from various government departmental sources.[2] State civil registrars are required to supply information, for example relating to death of a person, to enable names of deceased persons to be removed from electoral rolls.
Normally, enrolment and change of details can be done online or can be effected by sending in a prescribed form by regular mail, which must arrive at the AEC by the prescribed deadline. When an election is called, a date for the 'close of roll' is also announced, on which date processing of new enrolments or changes in enrolment details is suspended.[3]
Unlike most jurisdictions which close updating of electoral records with reference to a number of days before an election, commonly 14 or 28 days, or allow registration at the same time as attending a polling station to vote, Australia closes its rolls 7 days after an election is called, rather than with reference to the election day.
The AEC maintains a permanent electoral roll, which is used for federal elections, by-elections and referendums. It also forms the basis of state (except in Western Australia, which compiles its own) and local electoral rolls.[1]
An electoral roll is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections. The list is usually broken down by electoral districts, and is primarily prepared to assist election officials at polling places. Electoral rolls are the end result of a process of voter registration.
Electoral rolls and voter registration serve a number of functions, especially to streamline voting on election day. Voter registration can be used to detect electoral fraud by enabling authorities to verify an applicant's identity and entitlement to a vote, and to ensure a person doesn't vote multiple times. The electoral roll is also used to indicate whether a person has failed to vote, which is also compulsory in Australia.
The earliest electoral roll in Australia dates to the 1840s, for the then colony of New South Wales. Following federation in 1901, State electoral rolls were used for federal elections until a permanent Commonwealth electoral roll was compiled in 1908. For some years afterwards, the States continued to compile their own State electoral rolls, but these have now been discontinued, except for Western Australia which maintains a separate electoral roll.
Enrolment on the federal electoral roll of eligible voters has been compulsory since 1911.[4] At the time, the requirement to register applied to "British subjects" over the age of 21, and the registration of indigenous Australians was not compulsory until 1984. The voting age, and consequential requirement to register, was reduced to 18 in 1974. In 1984, the criteria for the right to vote, and requirement to register, became Australian citizenship. Residents in Australia who had been enrolled as British subjects in 1984 (i.e. are non-citizens) could continue to be enrolled.[5][6] (Today, these comprise about 9% of the electoral roll.)