Media enquiries:
Brendon Barlow, Public Awareness Manager – WA
T 08 6363 8026
F 08 6363 8051
M 0413 271 869
6 October 2009
The young and moving in Western Australia missing from the
electoral roll
In the continuing search for over 130,000 Western Australians missing from the electoral
roll, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) released information today indicating just
who in Western Australia has the greatest chance of risking their vote in the next election.
State Manager for Western Australia, Colin Nagle explained that Western Australians aged
18 to 34 years or anyone who has moved house in the last three years, have the greatest
likelihood of not being on the electoral roll.
“The fact is the younger you are the less likely you are to be on the electoral roll, with
nationally young people aged 18-24 years accounting for nearly one third of the 1.2 million
eligible Australians missing from the electoral roll.
“We also know that if you’ve moved in the last couple of years and haven’t updated your
address on the roll, that you run the greatest risk of being removed from the electoral roll,
and substantial numbers of Australians aged 25-44 years may be in this category” he said.
Over the coming weeks the AEC is undertaking one of its largest mailouts this year,
sending over 73,000 letters with enrolment forms to where we think many of these missing
eligible Australians might be living within the state.
“While this is a significant mailout it won’t reach everyone who is missing, so I urge any
Australian who needs to act on their enrolment to do it now, so you don’t miss out on having
your say on election day,” Mr Nagle said.
To check if you’re on the electoral roll or if your enrolment details are up-to-date, visit
To enrol to vote for the first time, to re-enrol, or to update your enrolment details because
you have moved, you simply need to complete an enrolment form available online at
www.aec.gov.au or at any AEC, Australia Post, Centrelink or Medicare office.
Completing the one enrolment form means you’re enrolled to vote for federal, state and
local government elections.
“An enhanced interactive online enrolment form is now available on the AEC website and
australia.gov.au, making the online completion more streamlined than ever. While you still
need to print out and sign the form, it is a first step towards modernising the enrolment
process to meet growing expectations among the public to complete business online,” Mr
Nagle said.
NEWS 
