Media Release 1998: Major Upgrade to Electoral Web Site

26 August 1998

When was compulsory voting first introduced in Australia – and how many other countries use it?

How many women are there in the House of Representatives, and when was each one of them elected?

I know my postcode but how can I find out the name of my electoral division?

What percentage of the two-party preferred vote did the Labor Party get in Tasmania at the 1996 election?

How many referendums have been held since federation, and how many of them were agreed to by the Australian voters?

With the launch of the expanded and redesigned web site of the Australian Electoral Commission it won't take you long to find the answers to these questions, or to a wide range of other electoral queries.

The AEC's web site has always been a very useful and popular one, both for the general public and for journalists reporting on electoral matters. As we move closer to a general election this site can expect even more visitors. And the upgraded version which has just been released will be welcomed for its comprehensiveness and its ease of use.

The site is managed for the AEC by EDIME Internet Agency.

Web site coordinator with the AEC, Silvana Puizina, said that the large amounts of material available on the website had been reorganised with more extensive cross referencing.

"The main menu now lists twenty-four areas which give the user direct access to the wide range of information available – everything from election statistics, through legislative changes, to party registration procedures," Ms Puizina said.

Other headings include Past Elections, Non-parliamentary Elections (yes, the AEC quietly runs over 700 of them each year) and the Next Election. And of course there is a useful list of Frequently Asked Questions.

"One service which will be of assistance to a lot of people in the lead up to the election is the facility to print from the homepage a copy of the electoral enrolment form. Most people pick up a form from a post office or an electoral office so being able to print their own will save them time."

The Commission, however, is not able to accept and process enrolment via the net. Ms Puizina pointed out that it was necessary for the Commission to receive signed and witnessed copies of all enrolment forms.

A special feature of the coming election for the first time will be the placing of the progressive election results on the Commission's web site soon after they are received at the national tally room in Canberra on election night.