Ways to vote

Ordinary vote

An ordinary vote is a vote cast by an elector at a polling place or at an early voting centre within the division for which they are on the roll for. This is the simplest way to vote and the method used by the majority of electors (approximately 80 per cent).

Absent vote

An absent vote is a vote cast by an elector out of their home division but still within their home State or Territory on election day. At the last election there were 748,747 absent votes cast ( 5.79 per cent of the total votes cast).

Early vote

You can vote early, either in person or by post, if on election day you will be:

• outside the electorate where you are enrolled to vote
• more than 8km from a polling place
• travelling or unable to leave work
• seriously ill, infirm or approaching childbirth (or caring for someone who is)
• a patient in hospital and can't vote at the hospital
• in prison serving a sentence of less than three years or otherwise detained
• unable for religious reasons to go to a polling place.

You can also vote early if you are a silent elector or have a reasonable fear for your safety.

In person

You can vote in person at an early voting centre or any AEC divisional office during business hours in the weeks leading to an election. Locations and times of early voting centres are published when available.

By post

After an election is announced, you can apply for a postal vote by completing a Postal Vote Application form and returning it to the AEC. Postal vote application forms are also available at any post office and AEC office.

The AEC will then send ballot papers to you as soon as they are available.

Post your voting envelope as early as possible before election day.

Interstate vote on election day

An interstate vote can be cast on election day at a special polling place called an interstate voting centre by an elector who is not in their home State or Territory.

Overseas

Providing they are currently enrolled, electors who are overseas can vote either in person at most Australian overseas embassies or missions, or by applying for a postal vote which entails printing an ‘Application for a Postal Vote’ form from our website. The Application for a Postal Vote form and list of embassies are only available after the date for a federal election has been officially announced. Further information is available in our section for overseas electors.

Provisional vote

A provisional vote is cast in circumstances where an elector's name cannot be found on the roll or the name has already been marked off the roll. The vote cannot be counted until a careful check of enrolment records and entitlements has been made.

Electors making an absent, postal, early (not in own division), interstate or provisional vote must complete a declaration envelope giving their personal details. This will be checked by divisional staff before the votes are counted.

Mobile polling votes

AEC mobile polling teams take portable polling places to many electors who are not able to get to a polling place. Mobile polling places are set up in some hospitals, nursing homes, prisons and remote areas of Australia. Mobile polling is carried out around Australia prior to election day and on election day.

How to vote if you are blind or have low vision

For the 2010 federal election, electors who are blind or have low vision will have the option to cast a secret vote via telephone to a specially established call centre. There are 126 voting locations across Australia, consisting of AEC Divisional offices and other designated sites which will be open for approximately two and a half weeks in the lead up to and on polling day.

Alternatively, electors may undertake an assisted vote at an early voting or polling centre.