It is AEC policy that quantities of printed postal vote applications will not be supplied to political parties and candidates.

Parties and candidates wishing to reproduce the postal vote application may obtain camera-ready copy of the approved form from the AEC's National Office by phoning 02 6271 4466 or emailing esp@aec.gov.au.

It is the AEC's general view that any reproduction of the postal vote application by parties or candidates must reproduce all of the text of the approved form. It is accepted, however, that the artwork on the front cover panel, the AEC logo and the AEC form number need not be reproduced. These items will not be included in the camera-ready copy of the approved postal vote application.

The AEC does not approve postal vote applications reproduced by parties or candidates and independent legal advice should be sought by any party or candidate intending to produce a postal vote application that does not reproduce any other text of the approved form.

It is the AEC's view that the following variations to the postal vote application format represent substantial compliance with the requirement to reproduce all of the text of the approved form:

• inclusion of an additional application form for electors to complete with their details, or
• printing the approved form in a double-sided (back to back) format, provided that all the approved text was reproduced on each side. Please note that in a double-sided postal vote application, the actual form for electors to complete with their details must not be on opposite sides of the same panel. A single panel with a different completed application on each side will cause significant processing problems for the AEC.

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Please note that this view has not been tested in the courts, but in the absence of legal advice the AEC believes that the above format variations would be acceptable.

AEC policy also allows for a once off allocation of 200 postal vote applications printed by the AEC to be supplied to the electorate office of each Senator and each Member of Parliament on announcement of the Federal election, in order to cater for constituents who might come to an electorate office seeking a postal vote application.

If you produce postal vote applications, you need to be aware that restrictions apply to the timing of their distribution to electors.

Postal vote applications may not be made (that is signed and dated by electors) until the issue of the writs or the announcement of polling day, whichever is earlier. If a postal vote application is signed and dated by an elector prior to the issue of the writs or the announcement of polling day it is not a valid application and must be rejected by the AEC. This is the case even if that application is received by the AEC after the issue of the writs or the announcement of polling day.

To avoid this problem the AEC does not distribute postal vote applications to post offices and the electorate offices of Senators and Members of Parliament, or publish the postal vote application on its Internet site, until the announcement of the Federal election.

To ensure that the franchise of potential postal voters is not put at risk, the AEC requests that parties and candidates also do not make any postal vote applications available to electors until the announcement of the Federal election.