Sally Young looks at the rise in the level of informal votes cast in the 2004 federal election, which highlights the need for funding to be restored to the Australian Electoral Commission so that it can conduct adequate community education programs, particularly in electorates with large numbers of Australians from non-English speaking countries. Such a high level of informal voting, she argues, is at odds with the basic democratic value of political equality - a value that can only be achieved when all voters have equal knowledge of how to cast a valid vote.