Stop the voting rorts

“8000 cases of multiple voting have been referred to the Australian Federal Police and another 10,000 have been attributed to official error,” FamilyVoice national research officer Ros Phillips said today. “But there may be many other cases of rorting that we do not know about, because without a voter ID requirement, people can vote under another name without detection. Reform of our voting system is long overdue!”

FamilyVoice’s submission (No 21) to the inquiry on the 2013 Federal Election outlined two conditions that needed to be satisfied for the integrity of the voting process:

1. The identity of each voter should be correct.
2. Each voter should vote only once.

To prevent a person from voting either multiple times or under another name, FamilyVoice recommended that:

• each person should be required to provide adequate personal identification to the AEC officials at polling booths prior to casting their vote.
• each person should be required to vote either at a polling booth assigned by the AEC or use an absentee vote.

“Enforcing such requirements would enhance the integrity of our democratic system,” Mrs Phillips said.

FamilyVoice will give oral evidence to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters on 11 June.
Mrs Roslyn Phillips, BSc DipEd National Research Officer FamilyVoice Australia: a Christian voice for family, faith and freedom Website: www.fava.org.au