If you want to vote, you must be on electoral roll
AUSTRALIANS have less than two weeks to make sure they will be able to vote in the postal plebiscite on same-sex marriage.
The cut-off for registering on the electoral roll is August 24 – less than two weeks away.
The Australian Electoral Commission will supply the Australian Bureau of Statistics with voters’ details when it sends out its ballots for the postal vote next month, so to make your voice count you’ll need to make sure you are registered and your details are up to date.
Acting Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann told ABC radio the government wanted to give people as much time as possible to register, but it was up to the ABS to decide the cut-off.
“This is now going to be a matter for the ABS to determine,” he said.
Before federal elections – run by the AEC – voters usually have seven days to register after the vote is officially called.
But because this is not an election but a voluntary, non-binding postal plebiscite run by a completely different agency, the usual rules go out the window.
Everyone on the electoral roll on that date will have ballot paper sent to them by September 12 and have until November 7 to send it back.
The government will announce the result of the plebiscite and whether the issue will be voted on in parliament by November 15.
The government’s postal plebiscite has been widely criticised.
Apart from its $122 million cost and the fact the result is not binding on parliament, one of the biggest issues has been that the voluntary vote may not be representative of the Australian population.
A federal Liberal MP pushing for a parliamentary vote on same-sex marriage has rejected former prime minister Tony Abbott’s claim the issue was about political correctness.
Trent Zimmerman wants Australians to have their say in the government’s planned postal plebiscite, despite it not being his first option to settle the long-running debate.
“We do have a pathway
now that will see this issue resolved before Christmas,” he said yesterday.
Asked about Mr Abbott’s claim, the openly gay MP says the issue is not about political correctness.
“This is simply about whether every loving relationship should be treated equally before the law,” Mr Zimmerman said.
Mr Abbott said the push for changes to the Marriage
Act was a “war on our way of life that politically correct activists have been prosecuting for years now”.
Enrol or update details at www.aec.gov.au/enrol.