NSW moves to automatic electoral enrolment

  • Antony Green

25 November 2009… and the Commonwealth should follow suit, writes Antony Green

By the time they reach the legal age of adulthood at 18, most young people have passed trial by driving test, usually passed trial by HSC, and are most of the way through trial by puberty.

Next year in NSW, anyone who turns 18 will face a new test, trial by electoral bureaucracy, a special sort of challenge that seems endemic to the workings of Federal systems of government.

All Australian citizens who turn 18 in NSW next year will receive a very polite letter not long after their birthday from the NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC). This letter will inform our new adult that they have been automatically placed on the electoral roll at their home address. A period of seven days will be allowed to object to this enrolment, the main grounds for objection being that the enrolment is for the wrong address.

This all seems very efficient...

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Photo: Andrew Jeffrey

 

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