Direct Enrolment

Direct Enrolment

In the past, the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC)used its Continuous Roll Update (CRU) program as the primary means of maintenance of the Victorian register of electors. Under its compulsory acquisition powers, the VEC receives change of address and new licence holder data from VicRoads, new tenant data from the Rental Tenancies Bond Authority (RTBA), tertiary student data from Victorian Tertiary Administration Centre (VTAC) and secondary student data from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). The CRU matching process determines whether a person is enrolled correctly, still enrolled for an old address, was previously but is no longer enrolled or has never been enrolled. Any eligible electors identified through this process are sent enrolment applications, which generally prompts them to act.The requirement until recent times was that eligible citizens had to complete and sign an enrolment form, have the form witnessed, and send it to the VEC/AEC for enrolment. To change an enrolled address, electors were required to notify the VEC in writing.

In August 2010,provisions were made to the Electoral Act 2002 (the Act) that haveenabled the VEC todirectly enrol eligible citizenson the Victorian register of electors,following the receipt andanalysis of reliable data.[1]

Thenew direct enrolment provisions of the Actallow the VEC to update details or directly enrol a person without the person having to initiate the action.This process requires the VECto notify the person in writing regarding the VEC’s awareness of entitlement and its intention to enrol the personunless notified of any ineligibility. If notification of ineligibility is not received,withina specified period of at least 14 days, the VEC willthen place the person on the Victorian register of electors and advise the person in writing accordingly.

Direct enrolment trial

Taking a cautious approach in implementing the new legislation, the VEC conducted a trial of direct enrolment in the lead-up to the 2010 State election. The trial was limited to students registered with the VCAAand born in Victoria.

Using data from the VCAA, the VEC identified1,886 studentswho were 18 years of age or older as of 30 September 2010 and not enrolled.The VEC wrote to the students to notify them they had 14 days to advise the VEC of any errors in their details, or if they were ineligible to enrol. The students were also informed that the enrolment provisions only applied to voting at Victorian State and local government elections, and that they would need to go to the AEC website to enrol for Federal elections.

Only 15 letters were returned undeliverable (no longer at the address) and advice was received in regard to a further 17 students who did not understand the significance of enrolment and votingbecause of an intellectual impairment. Direct action was taken by 105 students to enrolthemselves directly via the AEC website, and the VEC enrolled the remaining 1,749 (93%) electors (see Figure 1). Of the electors directly enrolled, 80% voted at the 2010 State election.

The trial was generally well accepted and no flaws were identified in the process adopted. In comparison, when 30,537 people were sent enrolment forms in February 2012 (under the existing CRU process) after notifying VicRoads of a change of address, only 19% resulted in enrolments, 73% didnot respond and 8% were returned to sender (see Figure 2).

Moving forward

Direct enrolment as part of the CRU program

Following the success of the trial, the VEC wanted to incorporate direct enrolment as part its CRU process to directly enrol electors where possible instead of sending out an enrolment form.This action resulted in 95.9% of the 47,341 people targeted being enrolled or having their address updated on the Victorian register of electors (see Figure 3).

Figure 3

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) now provides the VEC with citizenship data to use in its direct enrolment program. People identified through the CRU matching process with aDIAC record receive a direct enrolment intent letter, while those never enrolled and without a DIAC record are sent an enrolment form.

The first mail-out using the new process took place in February 2012 using VicRoads change of address data. A number of minor anomalies were identified and after making modifications to the process, a second mail-out was sent in May— again using VicRoads data.

Eligibility was confirmed for two-thirds of the licence holders that were not currently enrolled correctly on the register of electors. These people were sent a direct enrolment intent letter. The remainder were sent an enrolment application to complete if they were eligible to enrol.

As at 30 June 2012, only 7% (1,111) of those people sent an enrolment application had completed and returned the form to the VEC. In comparison, 95% (31,664) of those people sent a direct enrolment letter resulted in direct enrolment or an update of address details. Of the people sent an enrolment application,12,653 did not respond. A number of these people are Australian citizens and therefore eligible for enrolment.

The VEC is working with the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages to develop a process to identify those born in Victoria, who will in turn be processed as direct enrolments.

In 2012–13, the VEC will be increasing the number of direct enrolment mail-outs and looking at introducing new data sets in the program. In line with normal practices, the CRU program will be suspended during the conduct of the 2012 local government elections (a period of three months) so as not to confuse voters.

August 2012.

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[1]The VEC obtains data through its compulsory acquisition powers, as defined under section 26(4) of the Electoral Act 2002: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/ea2002103/s26.html