GetUp! wins case for online voter registration

 

It is the group’s second court win in as many weeks.

Last week the High Court ruled Howard government changes that closed the electoral rolls on the day writs were issued were unconstitutional.

GetUp! national director Simon Sheikh says today’s decision is historic.

“Today we’ve proven that in this country, enrolment can be submitted online,” he said.

“With 1.4 million Australians not on the electoral roll earlier this year, we need to do every single thing we can to get bureaucracy and red tape out of the way.”

“What it means is that in future the AEC should provide a safe and secure form on their own site for people to enrol to vote online.

“It is now upon the AEC to provide such a website themselves. It’s appropriate that they enrol people online, not just a third party.

“The AEC had argued that they couldn’t accept online enrolments [by law], but we shouldn’t be discriminating between enrolments – faxing it or submitting it online should be the same.”

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says it is vital to have safeguards in place to ensure people do not enrol for invalid reasons.

“I think it’s very important that we maintain the integrity of our electoral system,” he said.

“I have a lot of trust in the Australian Electoral Commission, but I do think it’s important there are safeguards in the system.”

Tags: government-and-politics, elections, law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, federal-elections, australia, nsw, sydney-2000

First posted 1 hour 24 minutes ago

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