We are NEVER Told... the full Absent story (edited)

Every election has Absent votes, and even Absent ("Declaration") Pre-poll votes.

How many were taken at your polling place (voting centre), or in your Division or electorate?

You do not know.

The AEC does!

You do know how many were received and admitted to the count for your Division.

You do not know where they came from. You do not know how many were rejected, unopened.

The AEC certainly does.

The "Absents" matter. 

They are different to Postal Votes, because they were made at a Polling Place. After being placed in an envelope and signed, an official signed off as witness and it was sent on to the Division (electorate) where the voter lives.

However, the voter's name must first be marked on the certified list of the Division. If, perchance, the name is not there, then the envelope will not be opened. I think the voter will not know if their Absent vote was included in the scrutiny, or not. (At one time NSW was trying to follow up rejected Declaration votes; could still be happening.)

Sometimes Absent Votes contain the wrong lower House ballot paper. That means only the Upper House vote can be counted when it reaches the voter's electorate. That should not happen, if the voter's enrolled address does fall within the claimed Division or electorate. (The officials issuing the Absent Vote are meant to check for themselves, and not simply accept the voter's idea of their Division.)

Have you ever been away from your electorate on Polling Day and voted wherever you were? Absent Votes are necessary and I suppose they will long remain part of the electoral machinery. They are necessary if we think everyone entitled to vote should be given opportunity to do so.

Nowadays, an elector who knows they will be absent might go to an early voting centre and vote there. If they go to a centre which has the roll of their electorate it will be a simple matter, just like on Polling Day.

Postal voting gives another option to the elector who will be absent from their electorate on Polling Day.

 

Yours sincerely

Allen Hampton

Coburg

achamptonmob@gmail.com

Photo by Simone Secci on Unsplash 

Edited 26/01/26