AEC commissioner reveals why Voice result might not be clear on referendum night

A seismic shift in the way Australians are voting could mean the result of the Voice referendum won’t be made explicitly clear on October 14.

Australians may not know the result of the Voice to Parliament referendum for days – or even weeks –after October 14, because a record number of people are set to vote via post.

Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers on Thursday said more people than ever were on the electoral roll, and 1.2 million Australians had registered for a postal vote application.

Mr Rogers said while it wasn’t an exact comparison, that was about 200,000 more applications than ahead of the May 2022 federal election.

Australians must return their postal vote by October 14, but because so many people are set to use the service – alongside pre-polling opportunities – Mr Rogers said there’s a possibility that it could take days to count all the ballots.

In the May 2022 election, just over half of voters lodged their vote either by post or at a pre-poll, with around the same level – if not higher – expected in the referendum.

“People have asked me – will we get a result on the night? And the answer is, I don’t know. It depends on how close the result is on the day,” Mr Rogers said.

“Given we’re at 1.2 million postal votes, it could well be that we have to wait for the postal votes to return before the results become clear, and we have to wait for a full 13 day period under law just to deal with that.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – who has repeatedly asked Australians to think about “how good” they’ll feel waking up on October 15 if a Yes vote succeeds – will travel to the United States on October 23.

Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers says a result on the Voice referendum might not be made clear on the night. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Rogers confirmed Australia’s electoral roll is now at the highest rate its been since federation, with 97.7 per cent of eligible Australians registered to vote – 17,676,347 people.

The youth roll (18-24 year olds) is at 91.4 per cent – its highest ever rate, and the Indigenous roll has reached a record 94.1 per cent.

Mobile polling for remote parts of Australia will commence on Monday, set to be the most complex and “logistically challenging” undertaking of its kind in history.

AEC teams will visit remote locations in every state and the Northern Territory over the coming three weeks to ensure that as many Australians as possible can vote.

Planes, helicopters, and boats were being arranged to reach Australians in the most remote parts of the country.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged Australians to vote yes so they can ‘feel good’ on October 15. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Deputy commissioner Jeff Pope said it would be the “largest service offering to remote communities across Australia than ever before”.

“Any means possible, we get out to those communities to try and deliver the franchise to as many people as we possibly can,” he said.

“It is one of the biggest and most complex undertakings in western democracies around the world.”

Mr Rogers said the AEC was also working to ensure there were contingencies in place given the early onset of the bushfire season.

“We will go the extra mile to ensure all Australians can vote,” he said.

He also urged Australians to “plan their vote” ahead of time – noting that special legislation introduced ahead of the May 2022 election to allow Australians with Covid-19 on the day of polling to vote via phone had expired.

The only Australians eligible for phone voting are blind and low-vision people, and those living in Antarctica.

There will be more than 500 early voting centres across the country, and 7000 polling booths open on October 14.

Postal vote applications are open until 6pm, October 11.

Hundreds of early voting booths will be open across the country in the weeks leading up to the referendum. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Mr Rogers said the commission was dealing with a high volume of mis- and disinformation, labelling much of what they were experiencing as “tinfoil hat wearing bonkers mad conspiracy theories”.

“What we’re trying to do is deal with that with positive information … providing fact-based information,” he said.

“We continue to deal with misinformation online as soon as it pops up.

“We don’t stop anyone from saying anything, Australians have the right to believe whatever they want to believe … but if they’re talking about the process, and it’s wrong, we’ll deal with it and also put it on our misinformation register.”