It’s that time of the year again when Australians get to choose the people who will, in great part, determine the country’s future. The 2022 Australian Federal Election will be happening on the 21st of May 2022 (Saturday). Early voting however has already commenced a few days ago on the 9th of May 2022.
Voting in Australian elections can be quite confusing and maybe even daunting. This is especially the case for those of you who are voting for the very first time, most notably our new Australians who may feel overwhelmed or are completely in the dark about Australian elections. Does this sound like you? If it does, then read on below as we discuss the basics of the Australian Federal Elections.
Who can vote?
To put it simply, you can vote if you are all of the following:
- An Australian citizen
- Aged 18 or over
- Enrolled/ registered with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC)
It’s important to note that in Australia, it’s compulsory to enroll and vote if you’re eligible. Failure to do so may result in you getting fined.
What happens in a federal election?
Basically, a federal election is when Australians vote for members of parliament whom they’d rather represent them (their views and interests) in the House of Representatives as well as in the Senate. It is held about every three years. To give you a bit of an overview, the House of Representatives (lower house) are comprised of seats representing local areas throughout Australia while the Senate (upper house) are the ones keeping the lower house in check. MPs (Member of Parliament) are representatives of electorates while Senators are representatives of States or Territories.
A common confusion that many new voters have about federal elections is that they’d be voting on who the next Prime Minister will be but that is technically incorrect. As mentioned above, you would be voting on who you want to represent you in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. How is the Prime Minister of Australia elected then, you might ask? Well, the leader of the party with the most seats in the Lower House (House of Representatives) will be the new Prime Minister.
How do you vote in an Australian Federal election?
To simplify, we will list down the step-by-step ‘voting process’ that you may employ on the day of the election.
- Step 1. At the polling place, a voting official will ask you your name and address. They will then mark off your name in the electoral roll.
- Step 2. You will be given two ballot papers. One for the House of Representatives (small green ballot) and the other is for the Senate (big white ballot).
- Step 3. Go to the voting booth and make sure to read the instructions carefully. If there is anything that you don’t understand you can ask a voting official for help.
- Step 4. Vote.
- For the green ballot, you must number every box in your order of choice. Number 1 being the candidate you most prefer to represent you in the lower house and so on.
- For the white ballot you can choose one of the two ways to vote. You can either vote above the line or below the line. If you’re voting above the line, you must number at least 6 boxes in the order of which party you’d most like to be in the Senate. Again, number 1 being your most preferred, number 2 being your second choice and so forth until you’ve numbered at least 6 boxes. If you’re voting below the line, you must number at least 12 boxes. Number 1 being your first individual candidate of choice and 12 being your least preferred.
- Made a mistake? You can ask for new ballots and start again.
- Step 5. Place your folded ballot papers in the ballot boxes and you’re done!
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Know the candidates
Aside from knowing how to vote, I think that it’s also very important to know who you’re actually voting for because the votes that you cast will elect the people who will make laws and decisions on your behalf for the next three or so years. But how do you actually do that? With a bit of research, effort, and time is how.
I know that finding time to do that with all of your other responsibilities in life can be a bit tricky. The good news is that there are a couple of websites out there where you can find easy to digest, relevant information about each of the candidates. In saying that, do keep in mind that there are a lot of misinformation that are being put out there so it’s best to take some time to consider whether your source can be trusted. I have been suggested a couple of sites that seem to be good reliable sources. These are the AEC’s website, They Vote For You, and Vote Compass. Watching debates between candidates is also a good place to start.
Now, what information about the candidates should you actually be looking for? I can’t really tell you what to do but I can suggest a few questions to get you started.
These are:
- What are their stance and what have they done with regards to the issues that matter to you?
- What are the policies, views and beliefs of the candidates and their respective parties? How do these align with yours?
- What are they known to be like, character wise? Are they honest, responsible etc.?
Where can you vote?
Now that we’ve gotten the ‘heavy stuff’ out of the way, let’s make sure that you know where to vote on the day of the Federal election. I’ve mostly seen polling places at schools but they are also usually located at churches, community halls, and other public establishments. To find the polling place near you, head on over to the AEC’s website and type in your suburb or postcode. According to the AEC, polling places would open at 8AM and close at exactly 6PM.
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Special circumstances
There are other ways in which you can vote under special circumstances. These are:
- Early voting centres. If you’re unable to get to a polling place on the day of the election, you can vote at an earlier date (starting the 9th of May) if you meet the eligibility requirements.
- Interstate voting centres. If on the day of the election you’re not in the state or territory where you are enrolled, you would need to vote at a designated interstate voting centre. You may also consider early voting options if you’re eligible.
- Overseas voters. It is recommended that Australian overseas voters participate in the election via postal voting but you can also vote at some Australian embassies. More information on this here.
- Voting by post. Again, as long as you’re eligible, you can apply for a postal vote if you can’t make it to a polling station on election day.
- AEC mobile voting. There are AEC mobile voting teams who visit and reach out to people in remote communities, hospitals, care facilities and the likes where people are unable to get to a polling place.
- Telephone voting. This option is available to voters with vision impairments (blind/low vision). You can find more information about this here.
- Voting with a disability. If you’re a voter with a disability or mobility restrictions, the AEC can provide you with the assistance that you need to participate in the federal election. The assistance can range from the accessibility of polling places to a braile version of the official guide to the 2022 federal election.
Democracy Sausage
This is actually step 6 in the voting process (no, not really). Kidding aside, it is a tradition in Australia to have a democracy sausage on election day. What is a democracy sausage? It’s basically the same thing as sausage sizzles which are sold at Bunnings on the weekends only that democracy sausages are sold at polling places. And no, they are not free as they are operated as fundraisers. For those of you who don’t know what a sausage sizzle is, it’s a simple sausage wrapped in a slice of bread. It’s actually amazingly satisfying to eat for what it is.
Conclusion
There you go, the basics of Australian federal elections. I hope that this helped you understand Australian federal elections a bit more. You might have noticed that I didn’t talk in depth about how the federal elections work here in Australia. This is because I don’t believe that I know enough about it yet although may I suggest an Australian YouTuber who in my opinion is quite well versed on the matter? I’ll include one of his videos below. Just fair warning that he’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Resources:
– https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-21/new-citizen-voters-federal-election/100988446
– https://www.aec.gov.au/election/
– https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/having-your-say/elections-and-voting/federal-elections/
– https://www.aec.gov.au/learn/preferential-voting.htm
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